Wigan handed four-point penalty

The Warriors were found guilty after a four-hour hearing in front of a three-man tribunal in Leeds of over-spending on players' wages in 2006.

Wigan, who were deducted two points for breaching the cap a year ago, were found to have overspent by £222,314 or 6% over the 50% limit.

The punishment would have been worse but for a ruling two weeks ago that a decision to double the penalties would not be implemented until next year.

The club, who avoided a fine, have the right to appeal but chairman Maurice Lindsay said no decision would be taken until they receive a written judgement.

Lindsay said: "You are always disappointed with any deduction and you are disappointed when you put together what we thought was a very strong argument and it's over-ruled.

"We had two key witnesses, Stuart Fielden and Harrison Hansen, who wanted to give evidence, and I thought they were very persuasive and very honest but they apparently weren't considered."

Wigan's argument was based on the fact that nine of their players apparently agreed to defer wages for last September, October and November in return for improved contracts for 2007. It is understood Wigan made the request once they realised they were likely to go over the cap and the League argued that this was against the spirit of the cap.

Two of the players who agreed to the deferments, Fielden and Hansen, attended Wednesday evening's hearing at the League's Red Hall headquarters as witnesses. The Warriors splashed out a world record £450,000 transfer fee to Bradford for Great Britain prop forward Fielden last June, just 10 days after admitting they were up to their wage limit.

The League only agreed to register Fielden after Wigan gave assurances that sufficient players would be offloaded to keep the club under the cap. The points deduction means Wigan are now 12 points behind leaders St Helens and just five above bottom club Salford.