According to media articles out of the UK, Wigan see Bird as the perfect replacement for the departed Trent Barrett – the club need to recruit strongly after Barrett performed well over the past 24 months; leaving them a large void in the halves.
While locally Bird still has several years remaining on his contract, the club is cautious to sack the pivot for fear of legal proceedings and are believed to be more likely to offer some payout to the player. Bird has been sidelined by the club since August after an alleged assault of partner Katie Milligan.
Also making things hard for the Sharks, they are already experiencing financial difficulties – only recently the club required urgent loan extensions to keep things afloat during the offseason.
Former Sydney Rooster Amos Roberts is also believed to be close to securing a deal with Wigan, but at this stage nothing has been confirmed by either party.