i'd love matt banahan to play league....

as for eastmond...i just don't see him lasting in union

Like many others I dont see were he will play? Bath must have a good reason to go for him though. What I do think is that if he is going for the money (or even the fame sucsess will bring) without having any knowlage or previous interest in thye game he will be in big trouble.
From Saints point of view they have invested in him & will now have to start looking for a half back( Australian most likley) if they had had that much faith in him they should have tied him to a long contract then at least they could have demanded a fee, a lesson other clubs should look at.

If Eastmond continues to put in lacklustre performances and get up the fans' noses as he has done so far I could see him leaving before the end of the season. I'm not saying it will definitely happen that way but that is what we saw at Wigan with Chris Ashton in his last season. He clearly couldn't be bothered to play for us any more and as a result got dropped and shipped out to Northampton early in exchange for a bit of compensation.

If the same happens (lack of effort and commitment, poor performances) with Eastmond then Saints would be better off getting rid and giving another young lad a go in the team who will be there for the future.

By all accounts Saints wanted rid of Eastmond immediately but Bath didn't want to pay compo, so I can't see that playing out TBH.

I suppose it depends on how much Saints wanted and if Bath were willing to pay some compensation but not as much as Saints asked for. Wigan only got a small amount of compensation for Ashton but there was little value in keeping him as he wasn't playing and was taking up a squad place and wage (albeit not a large wage).

Right now Eastmond is a first choice halfback so Saints will likely want his contract paying up as compensation (or close to that amount) but if in a couple of months time he has been dropped for playing poorly and Saints decide they can spend his wage and/or use his squad place more wisely then he may be offered for little or no compensation to Bath.

Eastmond is far from a one trick pony. Not only does he have power and pace most backs would dream of, but, considering his age, he has a very well rounded skill set. Don't take his 3 performances this year as any indication of his ability, this guy has all the potential to get to the very top of RL.

However

He's not going to be a scrum half in union, it would be too hard to make that transition in such a specialist position. They're going to want him either on the wing, full back or perhaps outside centre.
8-10 years ago, when union were still behind in terms of professionalism, Eastmond would have creamed it in the same way Robinson did, but now, it will be a lot more difficult for him.
Eastmond is small, really small, he's not exactly tough and have never shown to be that resistant to the rough stuff. At international level, he'll find himself being peppered by high kicks and jumping against much bigger guys. He'll also get a good shoeing when he's on the floor, which he will not take well.

Ashton's no great shakes, he just has an excellent supporting gmae and good pace, but he's big and tough enough to defend the above.

I suspect Eastmond will rip it up at club level, but struggle at international. He'll perhaps end up stuck on the international 7s circuit a la Henry Paul.

Have I missed something? He's already gone..

I just can't see where they're going to put him. There's an awful lot to learn if he's going to SH, FH or FB. It'll take him a year or two to catch up. Also, as mentioned his kicking game isn't that good, so he'll struggle there. He could be put on the wing or centre, but he's just too small. Union backs are generally a lot larger than League backs because they have less attacking space to run in, have to deal with the rucks and mauls and don't need to run backwards and forwards continually in the defensive line. He'll get smashed or driven into touch everytime or lose possesion in the ruck. I also don't think he'll be able to defend in a way that will help his team gain possession.

A few games on the wing at the Rec (which looks like the coldest and boggiest ground on earth) in the middle of winter, seeing the ball passed to him twice, having bomb after bomb put down his throat, being smashed by defenders and run over of by attackers will see him looking North again.

He's a RL player. End of.

I'm amazed no one has blamed Steve McNamara yet www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/fe ... elens-bath Poor chap seems to get blamed for everything else

I'm amazed no one has blamed Steve McNamara yet www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/fe ... elens-bath Poor chap seems to get blamed for everything else

Bath is a hole. I couldn't think of anywhere I'd less like to live in the UK, really can't see someone like Kyle fitting in there.

Whereas St Helens...

Have you been to Bath? To paraphrase someone else, it's full of cider-drinking yokels and posh home-counties w@nkers. I'd rather spend a year in St Helens than a week in Bath.

You've never been this far north have you?

What planet are you on if you think RL threequarters are smaller than Union or that its something to do with differences between the games? That may be the case in SL where we struggle to produce quality big athletes, but I suspect Greg Inglis (even prior his recent weight gain!) would have been bigger than most Union centres. Gasnier, Hodges, Tuqiri etc are all big men. Its one of the reasons we don't compete against Australia - their fast outside backs tend to be big. Ours tend to be small - and sadly often not fast either.

Quote ="PHIPPS"I'm amazed no one has blamed Steve McNamara yet www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/fe ... elens-bath Poor coach seems to get blamed for everything else'" spelling mistake corrected

Quote ="PHIPPS"I'm amazed no one has blamed Steve McNamara yet www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/fe ... elens-bath Poor coach seems to get blamed for everything else'" spelling mistake corrected

There's nothing I've seen from the current England halves which suggest Eastmond can't make it to the very top in Union. The fact that Ashton - a lad with plenty of talent but questionable cojones - is tearing up trees in the English competitions ("My God! He runs ... LINES and BACKS UP!"icon_wink.gif hardly suggests that we're talking about a ferocious bear-pit of ultra-competition.

Sadly, Union's decision to re-target its scalphunting operation (after the farcical decision to pay Farrell the wealth of Croesus six months before his body gave out) almost certainly means we can forget about defeating Australia in a Test series within our lifetimes (not that it was ever likely).

It's now open season on any league half, three-quarter, wing or fullback with talent and given Union's resources we can expect to see more leaving in the future. As things stand we're struggling to compete with the NRL's best. Sans anywhere between 20%-40% of our brightest young stars we're out of the picture completely. Indeed, it might not be too long before NZ and perhaps even Papua consider us easy pickings.

Thats what I am worried about. Rugby Union now going after all of Super leagues best young talent as they see kyle leave at 21 years old.

I am hoping that these players in League want to stay and play League as they love the game! Is there any thought going around that players in Super League or in the youth acadamies are looking for moves to Union?

Union will never be able to steal all of our best players. There are as many reasons to stay playing league as there are to switch codes. And money isn't everything. Some people aren't motivated by high wages - especially if they involve working in an environment which is culturally and/or socially alien to them.

Unfortunately - when it comes to the international game - we can't afford to lose ANY quality to a rival sport. Forget about Australia and NZ, as far as the backs are concerned we are still unable to compete with GB teams of 10-15 years ago (which were being similarly pulverised in internationals).

Back then I used to think that given a lucky break with a good crop of players we *might* just sneak a Test series. Now, with the money that's being thrown around in Union for talented League players I'm thinking I won't see such at any point in my lifetime.

Certain outliers like Inglis excepted there is no major difference in size between RU and RL backs, or even between SL and NRL backs. Some sides seem to prefer bigger backs, sometimes trading off against speed, lateral movement or even overall stamina, it just depends on the strategy. The England RU team does seem to go for bigger backs, but then they don't score long range tries, 30 metres out against a weak side like Italy is as good as it gets, and their opponents tend not to score those tries either.

I better get down to Specsavers then.

I could have sworn I saw Chris Ashton score a 95m try against twice world champions Australia at Twickers in November last year.

i liked st helens

very friendly people

Would you say that is typical? Is one long-range try per 5 or 6 internationals a reasonable indicator of how often it happens?

I don't watch enough RU to comment on the statistics of how often long range tries occur.

You might want to ask one of the Union fans on here.

Or better still ask over on the 'Other Sports' forum.

I hear thats the place to discuss sports other than Rugby League.

One of them was regarded as the best try ever at Twickers. Reason being; it was length of the field, which doesn't happen very often if at all in the Onion code.

Length of the field tries aren't exactly unusual in League, but that try would be quite remarkable in League because, considering Ashton's speed and stature, it would be like Craig Huby going to the length.