I certainly hope so, Wigan have opened talks with Pat to extend his stay for a further 3 years according to todays press. A few thoughts on this with Pat being targetted by a number of NRL teams and also chat a few months back that he may like to try his hand in the NFL. Could Pat demand to be the highest paid player at Wigan, and with him being worth his weight in gold would he rightly be awarded as our most valuble asset? Will his injury be a talking point? A few players have come back from similar injuries and not been the same player, especially with Pats being his kicking leg. He is contracted to the end this season, and i would love him to see his career out at Wigan. www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... _1_3055485

I certainly hope so, Wigan have opened talks with Pat to extend his stay for a further 3 years according to todays press. A few thoughts on this with Pat being targetted by a number of NRL teams and also chat a few months back that he may like to try his hand in the NFL. Could Pat demand to be the highest paid player at Wigan, and with him being worth his weight in gold would he rightly be awarded as our most valuble asset? Will his injury be a talking point? A few players have come back from similar injuries and not been the same player, especially with Pats being his kicking leg. He is contracted to the end this season, and i would love him to see his career out at Wigan. www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... _1_3055485

Quote {Hogan}="{Hogan}"I certainly hope so, Wigan have opened talks with Pat to extend his stay for a further 3 years according to todays press. A few thoughts on this with Pat being targetted by a number of NRL teams and also chat a few months back that he may like to try his hand in the NFL. [uCould Pat demand to be the highest paid player at Wigan[/u, and with him being worth his weight in gold would he rightly be awarded as our most valuble asset? Will his injury be a talking point? A few players have come back from similar injuries and not been the same player, especially with Pats being his kicking leg. He is contracted to the end this season, and i would love him to see his career out at Wigan. www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... _1_3055485'" In a word, no. He's a winger. A good winger but a winger none the less. I've always been a little puzzled by the love in surrounding him. I do think he's a good player but last season has shown that you don't need the worlds best wingers to score your tries. If last seasons early form is anything to go by, then Amos is easily the best winger at the club if not the league. He's got bags of acceleration, a great step and fantastic hands all things that Pat does lack. It does read like I really don't rate Pat but that's not the case, far from it. His defence is solid, his work rate is great and his level of consistency is fantastic. There's also his kicking but he's certainly not worth being the highest paid player at the club. All my opinion of course.

Quote {Hogan}="{Hogan}"I certainly hope so, Wigan have opened talks with Pat to extend his stay for a further 3 years according to todays press. A few thoughts on this with Pat being targetted by a number of NRL teams and also chat a few months back that he may like to try his hand in the NFL. [uCould Pat demand to be the highest paid player at Wigan[/u, and with him being worth his weight in gold would he rightly be awarded as our most valuble asset? Will his injury be a talking point? A few players have come back from similar injuries and not been the same player, especially with Pats being his kicking leg. He is contracted to the end this season, and i would love him to see his career out at Wigan. www.wigantoday.net/sport/wigan-w ... _1_3055485'" In a word, no. He's a winger. A good winger but a winger none the less. I've always been a little puzzled by the love in surrounding him. I do think he's a good player but last season has shown that you don't need the worlds best wingers to score your tries. If last seasons early form is anything to go by, then Amos is easily the best winger at the club if not the league. He's got bags of acceleration, a great step and fantastic hands all things that Pat does lack. It does read like I really don't rate Pat but that's not the case, far from it. His defence is solid, his work rate is great and his level of consistency is fantastic. There's also his kicking but he's certainly not worth being the highest paid player at the club. All my opinion of course.

If he wasn't a goal kicker then you might have a point. But goal kickers of his standard are hard to find and in the immediate future I don't see a goal kicker anywhere near his standard on our books. So I think he has to be retained for that reason. Not sure highest paid players is the way. I wouldn't like to see his wage inflated at the expense of keeping on other local lads but having said that, we've all the key academy talent sewn up now.

I agree to a certain extent, but with him being the top points scorer on this country 3 years on the bounce i think Wigan will try everything they know to keep him in the pink and white.

A fully fit (and back to his best) Pat Richards is a no brainer for a 3 year extension.



I reckon the club may offer 1 year extension (with an option for 2 more, depending on his recovery this season).

I think Wigan want Pat Richards and Pat Richards wants Wigan. I don't see him returning to the NRL or trying out any bizarre American sports. He is the best winger I've seen from Australia since Brett Dallas. His consistency week in week out has rightfully earned him the plaudits from winning the MOS prize. However, I wouldn't say he is our most valuable asset and certainly wouldn't put him as the highest paid player at the club. Other positions are of greater importance than a winger - even if he is the best in the league. This is exemplified by Karl Pryce plonking over tries during that patch and to an extent, not that the lad has not done well, Darrell Goulding is just a make shift winger who went on to represent England! My point there is wingers tend to be replaceable. A great halfback or prop forward is more difficult. However without a doubt, should Richards make a full recovery from his injury and continue to put in the performances then he should be signed up on round about a three-year deal. His goal-kicking is a tremendous asset and he is certainly one of the best in the league in that department. That part of his game would be more difficult to replace & will count in his favour when negotiating a new deal.

Remember he wasn't a kicker when he came to Wigan. He was pushed into it due to us not having one. I'm not saying anyone could do it but before they came to Wigan Amos had kicked more, Deacon had kicked more, Pryce had kicked more, Riddell had kicked more. I'm sure with a lot of practice any one of those could have been up there with Pat as a kicker.



Am I right in saying his conversion rate last season was around 75%?



Who else was around that figure?



Without a doubt he should be retained but not as the highest paid player.

Well this isn't exactly coversion rates because Penalty Goals can be missed but this is Goals Scored divided by Tries Scored in the Super League Regular Season last year. Gives you an indication of who is going up in sixes rather than fours.



Hull KR - 95.4%

Hull - 91.7%

Crusaders - 90.4%

Leeds - 86.5%

Wigan - 86.3%

Harlequins - 86%

Salford - 85.8%

Cas - 81.7%

Saints - 79.2%

Bradford - 78.7%

Catalans - 75.6%

Wakefield - 75.2%

Huddersfield - 72.6%

Warrington - 72%

Exactly what I was going to say.



An hour before Kick Off in the Grand Final he'd have been offered a straight extension by x years, but from everything we've seen in the way Lenagan does business, I'd be surprised to see a long term contract offered straight away.



As Matty said, get him on contract for 2012 and then re-evaluate the situation later on.

Poor stats IMO.... we score most of our tries on the wings.... I think half of our tries came from 3 players alone, 2 are wingers. Half of his goals are from the touchline.

Good point, i think 52 of our tries came from the Winger last season.

Richards is a 'points machine'. Keep him at all costs.



We haven't had a kicker of his calibre since Botica !