Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet has moved quickly to shut down rumours of Jai Field leaving the club and Jack Welsby arriving from rivals St Helens.
Australian full-back Field is off-contract at the end of next season, though does have options in his contract to extend for the 2028 and/or 2029 seasons.
Recent weeks have seen rumours emerge of Field potentially returning Down Under come the end of 2027, with new NRL franchise Perth Bears his destination.
Theoretically, a move like that would leave the Warriors in need of a replacement, and the man tipped to take that spot in the spine is Saints ace Welsby, whose contract also expires at the end of 2027.
‘All my conversations with Jai have been that he’s here for the long haul’
Both of those rumours have gathered pace on social media in recent weeks, but no concrete links have come the fore on either.
NRL outfit Perth will enter the first-grade competition Down Under at the start of 2027.
On Wednesday afternoon, Wigan and Warrington Wolves announced their clash in Dublin next April at O’Connell’s Irish Pub in Manchester.
Head coach Peet was asked about the Field exit rumours, and admitted: “That’s a new one to me, that’s literally the first time I’ve heard it.
“All my conversations with Jai have been that he’s here for the long haul.
“Maybe when you speak to Jai, you might get the impression that he’s more than happy here, and we’re certainly more than happy with it.”
Welsby rumour shut down: ‘There’s just nothing in it’
England international Welsby is a Wigan native, born and bred in Shevington, but joined Saints as a teenager and progressed through their youth ranks to score the winning try against his hometown club in the 2020 Super League Grand Final.
Welsby turned down NRL offers earlier in his career, and has now played more than 180 games in Saints’ colours.
On the links to him, Peet responded: “There’s just nothing in it.
“You look at our salary cap with the way it is… Jack’s an unbelievable player, he’s a player I have a got a really high level of respect for, and I know Rads (Kris Radlinski, Chief Executive Officer) is the same.
“(Jack is) a local lad, he’s competitive, he handles himself really well, he’s a leader… but again, we all know this thing called the salary cap exists.
“If it didn’t, maybe the answers would all be different on the players you ask me about, but we are well resourced in terms of quality and players coming up, particularly in our backline, so there’s not much in that.”
