With Wigan and now Saints (potentially) losing massive talent to Union and seen as we are a growing force in the youth leagues, are we scared?

Rhys Evans is developing quite nicely.

More importantly, we have picked youngsters from Union. The Evans boys, Harvey etc They could easily go back.

Is there any other team getting their youngsters from Union?

Saints have had a few academy players from Union. Most noticably recently they signed a player from Northampton RL who had been their RU books I believe.

Leeds also have signed quite a few former Union players.

As for them going, it's inevitable. Super League just doesn't have enough clubs with sufficient backing to survive an increase to the salary cap and Union just has more room. They also have their governing body who are willing to help if the player in question has a good chance of playing for England.

Typo corrected.

the evans twins will go to union eventually, remember where you heard it first!!!

33 posts in 2 years, yep, you'll stick in my mind.

Most of them come back. Clubs need to ensure they get real talent on long term contracts, as Leeds have just done.

contracts mean nothing if a star wants to leave.

No matetr wht Union will have LEague over a barrel.

If Leeds Union want to sign Jones- Bishop and he wants to go union. Little can stop it.

If I was a professional RL player and an RU club, with backing from their governing body who wanted me to play at international level, offered me three times my salary to go across - with the opportunity of playing in front of 70,000 crowds in the Six Nations and World Cup - I'd have to go. It's a relatively short career for athletes who are not on Premier League football style wages and they've got a long future to think about once they retire from playing. If they have the opportunity to financially secure themselves and their family for life they aren't betraying their roots by taking it. They're simply doing what they have to do.

Don't forget that for a century RL took many top RU players, mostly from Wales, as they wanted to earn a better living playing rugby than they could in an amateur game. Unfortunately since 1995 the boot has largely been on the other foot.

Unlike those Welshmen though, our players [ican[/i come back if they want to in future. It's obviously disappointing when any top player leaves RL, and I would rather they stayed within the game no matter what club they play for, but it's a reality we just have to accept. RL is not as rich a sport as RU so a few top players will always be targetted by the RFU (or their equivalent in any other country a player would be eligible for) and some will go. RL will carry on as normal.

Saying the game is dying whenever this happens is just scaremongering. Headingley houses top flight teams in both codes - which gets the bigger crowds? Sale are the only professional RU presence in the north west, but three Super League teams in the region have higher average attendances than them. As long as the game is still played in it's heartland towns it will always survive.

True in every word you say

RL will survive the departure of another youngster (shame tho)

From a club perspective though. Are we afraid of losing the guys that, unlike Kyle, have a history in Union?

Generally agree. I suspect that in 90% of cases, though, when reflecting on their legacy as players (rather than their bank balances), those that go over discover that it was a poor decision. The majority of young players who have gone to rugby union and come back find that they haven't developed in comparison to their peers who stuck in RL. But it's a short career, as you say, and the $$$ talk.

Of course we would want to keep any player we feel has something to offer us in the future, but if you look at Saints they have Eastmond heavily linked with RU and Graham heavily linked with the NRL. If they both go they RL as a game will only lose Eastmond, but Saints as a club will lose them both.

Players move clubs sometimes. It happens.