I hope its just a negotiating tool, rather than him just being a tool and seriously considering playing that dull heap of ****.

good luck to him, he is a very talented young player and should pick up the game easily. for his career and future prosperity its a no brainer.

as an RL player his earning potential and national profile will be much bigger in union, if he fails then he could always come back.

much as its not the game for me, he would be foolish to turn down the oportunity.

Even with the Salary Cap in place Saints and your club Hull antipodean Rovers run at a loss every year. If it wasnt in place we would have clubs regularly going bust

I hope he stays as he has all the ability to be a superstar in our game.
If he decides to go to union f00k him,that's all I have to say on this matter.

Jason Robinson made it with consumate ease. Kyle Eastmond is an even better raw talent than Robinson IMO. He has an incredibly similar running style and evasiveness plus has a far superior skillset in terms of passing and kicking than Robinson ever did.

If he could add the resilience and toughness that Robinson had throughout his career then he would clean up in Union.

IF. I don't see see Saints keeping him when you look at the salary caps in the respective leagues. The NRL will have far more spending power, the Guiness Premiership teams even more and French Union more still.

F*ck him. We have a good half back in Robinson. Put Roby in Hooker, we're fine from an england p.o.v.

what is the salary cap in RU?

Big loss if he goes, not liek England is producing much in halfback talent.

I keep seeing references to the salary cap like that's the only thing preventing Saints offering him a contract equal to what he can earn anywhere else in the world.

Have Saints suddenly uncovered a massive horde of pirate treasure under the Knowsley Road pitch or something? Based on the last few sets of accounts they've filed they're hardly in a financial position to be getting dragged into a bidding war, salary cap or not.

People have seriously deluded ideas about what RL as a sport (and Saints as a club, amongst other clubs) can and can't afford.

We should offer him as much as we can afford to within the constraints of the cap; we have no obligation to pay him the earth to keep him in RL to the detriment of our future squad.

Hopefully we find a way to keep him at Saints as he's an exciting player to watch, but if we can't (be it union, NRL or another SL club) then hey-ho. Roby was the key signing for us anyway IMO.

The Aviva Rah Rah League is not exactly in a brilliant position itself. The French are luring all of their top talent bit by bit. Wouldn't be a shock to see Eastmond go to Bath and, if he proves himself, pop up in Toulon or Clermont-Ferrand.

£4million in the Aviva Premiership, less than the NRL?

good luck to him,i hope he wins loads of england and british lion caps.
i hope he makes loads of money and loses his accent and i hope in about 10 years time he recieves a gong for sevices to rugby union.

Then they should be the one to decide how much they can or cant afford. Not some arbitrary number that bears no relation to their financial position.

You should pay him as much as you think he is worth, you have no obligation to pay him the earth, but what you pay him shouldnt be to the detriment of your future squad.

England losing another of their brightest young stars, its ok, we will just bring through more apparently.

I mean its not like the cupboards already bare and we are living of scraps like Blake Green or an old Brett Finch is it. I mean its not like a completely shot Paul Deacon can still get a game at a top club, or players like Jarrod Sammut or Michael Witt have torn up this league because we have such a poor quality of halfback.

Players like Eastmond are ten a penny, and it is certainly in the games best interest that we lose a player like him than a club which cant be trusted to not run itself in the ground.

There is no place in SL for over the hill 33 year old journeyman Aussies like Ben Cross or never done anything, mediocre players like Weller Hauraki. It's not as if they could get a game at former champions Leeds is it?

Smokey the Kipperman, I salute you!

Maybe have a look at what links the players i mentioned, then maybe it will sink in why Ben Cross and Weller Hauraki wouldnt be good examples

But that would have been good examples, and in fact wouldnt have made sense in the context of the point i was making.

But well done on jumping in with both feet before actually bothering the understand,

Classic Bill.

None of them play for Leeds?

Classic Kipperman selectivity meaning you are able to have a dig at other clubs while former champions Leeds remain squeeky clean?

Any of those?

None of them play for Warrington either.

What point did you think i was making? you have obviously got it wrong so tell me what you have invented in your head and i can point out where for you and you wont be as confused anymore.

Whilst it’ll be disappointing to see Eastmond to go before he gets a good run at England RL, someone else will soon take his place and won’t be as injury prone hopefully. SBW switched codes and I still like watching him play and I’m sure I could still say the same for Easmond if he decides to switch codes.

Also I think that the ageist brigade should give it a rest. If you like a league where everyone’s under 20 then I recommend that you go watch Junior rugby league and get an education of the game whilst you’re at it. Not every single player can be a superstar in the team – you need to have your stable players as well. I bet there are half a dozen threads calling These Leeds and Wigan players rubbish because of technicalities like age and where they come from.

Trophies talk, bullsh[ii[/it theory’s walk..

So you're saying it was classic Kipperman selectivity then? Good, at least we got a straight answer out of you for once.

That's that sorted then.

selectivity of what?

What were you thinking they were examples of and why are you now desperately avoiding saying it?

New players, like you said, always do come through. Guys like SBW, Ashton & Gasnier leave and new exciting talents replace them.

But surly the game would be in a much stronger position if we kept the exisiting stars and still produced new blood. I'd have loved to seen SBW in this current NZ side battling against players like Blair for a spot. Or Gasnier in his prime going up against Inglis over a good few origin series.

I'd have loved to have seen Ashton in the current Wigan side. That probably would have ended Gouldings Wigan career but a player like Goulding would easily have found a spot at another club and thus pushing out a mediocre player there. That's how you get a strong league and stop depending on NRL imports.

gonna be sad news if eastmond joins Bath. If we lose one of our best players at such a young age I think it gives out such a bad message. If Super Leage is gonna lose such a talent then lets lose him to the NRL so at least he is still in our game.

It is like saying "All of Super League's best players are available for Rugby Union whenever you want"

Martin Offiah is probably not helping as I can predict he is telling young Kyle to jump over to the darkside.

To be fair to Martin Offiah his involvement as Kyle Eastmond's agent ended just after he signed his latest St Helens contract. Offiah hasn't been his agent for some time now.