I would not be surprised if Croft stays for 25 with Hastings replacing him in 26. I also think Blease might have one eye on the fortunes of Will Pryce.

And how much had we just paid in transfer fees for those?

Irrelevant.

Some people really don't know how Rugby League economics work. St George are desperate, they will pay if they want Croft.

If Croft wants to leave we'll eventually have to just suck it up, but as a business it would be insane to not force as much compensation as possible.

The argument that we should let a player go because he won't want to play for us again is valid, but so is acting in the best interests of the club financially. I'd also argue the Arthur factor would outweigh any negativity associated with Leeds simply enforcing their rights to not deregister a player just because it suits them.

By the way, I'm not sure Croft would necessarily want to join the Dragons. St George need a replacement for Hunt. Croft is not the lead playmaker they need - someone like Hastings would make more sense. The whole reason Croft left the NRL is because the last time an NRL team tried to make him the centre of the team he collapsed under the pressure. Even at Leeds we've seen that he isn't comfortable as the main organiser.