www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 13032.html

www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague ... 13032.html

Its what my mother used to call "talking wrong to get right"

Sounds to me as if they are in the latter stage of negotiations with an RU club and this is just meant to add a bit of leverage.

I hope I'm wrong

Vegas should have punched him twice.

"I, like everyone else involved in rugby league, know his talents and I'm sure St Helens do too, but if they don't value him like that then he'll be somewhere else - it's as simple as that."

He's going to push for everything he can get for his client, which is fair enough.

He does make me laugh with these talent spotting statements. When he came back to Sky, he spoke like he hadn't watched a game of rugby league since he'd retired, the newsreader on Sky Sports News would often have to correct him on player names, a reporter who has probably never even seen a game. Plonker.

Key paragraph: Quote Signed copies of 'Martin Offiah's 50 Of The Best' - 50 of the greatest rugby league tries of all time - are now available on pre order at www.sjdent.com and will be in all good bookshops from November 12.'"

Key paragraph: Quote Signed copies of 'Martin Offiah's 50 Of The Best' - 50 of the greatest rugby league tries of all time - are now available on pre order at www.sjdent.com and will be in all good bookshops from November 12.'"

i'm sure the saints board like many saints fans realise that eastmond is still [upotentially[/u a quality player. the board can only pay him what they think he's worth and at the moment he deserves a better contract but not a huge one i.m.o offiah seems to want his two young half backs to be paid top wage(good luck to them i say) but he's overpricing them and therefore holding our club to ransom somewhat. and the statement of if saints dont meet his demands then he will go simple as that is amazingly obnoxious and disrepectful to the hard work that saints have put in to make eastmond the player he is today!

He doesn't say anything too bad, he's just doing his job. If he wasn't martin offiah, I don't think there'd be too much fuss.

Seriously though, we haven't got a scrum half and have longy's wages to cover one. We can't be that short of cash and Eastmond must fancy staying at Saints in terms of a playing POV, so if we don't work it out it will only be down to one party being unreasonable (or stupid). I really can't imagine a RU club offering stupid money, decent perhaps, but not stupid - it would also be a risky move for all concerned as to whether he will tranfer his game [icompletely[/i.

At the end of the day, none of us know a) what Saints have offered and b) what Kyle's agent has asked for.

They could be miles apart, they could be minor details. I think Saints are taking a valid stance is saying to him, "Prove yourself at scrum half and then we can sit down and talk"

I would hate him to leave, but wouldn't want them to offer him silly money at the expense of the club.

As for Offiah, he is doing the job he is paid for. I wouldn't expect anything else of him to be honest.

don't forgwt Offiah gets his 10% or more cut

OK we wont forget, I think we had all forgot that bit, so thanks for the reminder pal.

Offiah is just the face of RL for a sports agency, he wont get anywhere near 10% (the agency will, but not him!).

Cunningham was "potentially" a quality hooker when the board chose to pay up in favour of losing him to Wigan.

And I doubt there's a Saints fan in existence that won't thank them.

"Someone like Lee Smith has done all there is to do in rugby league so now he wants a new challenge somewhere else and perhaps he can earn more money out of it. That's the ideal way to do it."





Lee Smith has hardly done all there is to do in RL.

To be perfectly honest I found that reassuring more than anything. The implication is that all parties want him to stay in RL and at Saints. It's just a part of the negotiation process. I'll be very surprised if Saints don't have an attractive offer ready for Kyle in the not too distant.

For a lad so young the only dream left for him is an outing at Wembley. Unless he ever thought he would be an international regular?

We can only put Eastmond in the 'potential' bracket for so long. He had a good Grand Final on a big stage. He's had another England call up and if he performs well on that international stage then his bargaining position will shoot up.

Maybe Saints should have tied him up 3 months ago when they had the chance, at a lower rate than he can negotiate now.

He's won 3 super league titles, won the harry sunderland, won the WCC and LLS.

Played for england on the biggest stage, and done alright.

Pretty much the only thing he hasn't done is won the CC.

Hopefully not the kind of outing that Jason Donovan was (falsely) subjected to

How many 4 nations and World cups does he have? How many young player of the year? How many Man of Steel awards? How many top scorer awards?
How many Mr Gay Yorkshire awards?

Id take a guess at 4 ?

dont forget turning his back on the team that got him where he is, not putting a couple of years back into the club
doing the dirty on his fans for a big bag of money

what he maight want to do is melt his medals and rings down and stick them up his to form somthing that looks like a back bone

You need to remember that Rugby is a job for these guys and they dont get paid that well in league compared to union and most players are washed up by the time their 31-32 ish. Players need to be able to set themselves up for when they retire.

yeah i know fair dos but cunningham says no and few yeras take paycut to stay with this..im not saying anyone should do that, i wouldnt

but the first team that come sniffing around your more than happy to leave your home town team having not ticked all the boxes in your own sport ....blaw

its a reality in the game now - salary cap, wage structures, Leeds have seen it before with the calderwood and chevs of the world, life goes on.

the awkward thing for you lot is the transitional juncture your club is at,so many amazing players finishing / leaving over the last few years, and KC next year - how much faith and cash do you punt on the young man

He's from Oldham and was a Wigan supporter as a kid.