Wigan Warriors CEO calls for salary cap changes as warning aired over young talent

Wigan Warriors CEO Kris Radlinski has called for changes in the sport’s salary cap in light of more standout showings from his club’s young stars.

The Cherry and Whites returned to Wembley as they dominated rivals St Helens in the Challenge Cup semi-final, winning 32-0 with a number of the club’s young stars shining.

Jack Farrimond and Zach Eckersley both scored braces, Junior Nsemba helped Wigan win the pack battle and Noah Hodkinson shone on the wing in just his second senior game at the position.

Asked about those standout showings, Kris Radlinski admitted to the BBC that it is ‘bittersweet’ because the reality is that he should be paying more to those players, however, salary cap limitations restrict him.

“It’s so bittersweet, to be honest with you. Noah’s done an amazing job today and I’d want to pay him more money to keep him on contract but in a salary cap sport, it doesn’t allow you to do that,” Radlinski explained, before explaining why it’s such a big issue, not just for Wigan, but for Super League.

“We’ve got to do some tweaking in that regard because there are other competitions, should I say, who will be all over this talent.

“This will be beamed all around the world today and people will be talking about this young Wigan winger who’s had an absolute wow of a game.”

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Wigan Warriors chief highlights young stars after Challenge Cup win

Of course, the major other competition that will be watching is the NRL, with whom the RFL are in talks with over possible investment that would likely help increase a salary cap that hasn’t budged since 2020.

In recent years, Super League has seen an exodus of young talent to the NRL in part due to wages but also the higher level of competition and that could well continue, with a number of Wigan Warriors players surely on the radar.

Among those could be the trio of Farrimond, Hodkinson and Nsemba, the latter of whom has previously been talked up by those down under, and it was now the turn of Radlinski to talk up his players.

He said: “We’ve been through a bit of adversity in the last month, and Jack Farrimond has gone unnoticed. He’s 20 years old and what he’s gone through in some losses and a bit of criticism, that’s going to make him a better player in the long run.

“Noah Hodkinson, I mean, he had a game, didn’t he? He didn’t put a foot wrong under some extreme pressure in big situations.

“Junior, I felt that a lot of people have been taking what Junior’s done for granted all season. I mean, he’s destructive in every involvement, whether he’s carrying the ball or defensively. It’ll be difficult to pick him a Man of the Match, I reckon, today. It was a pretty strong all around.”