Nope, me neither.... Life's too short to waste time playing a sport that isn't as enjoyable for the sake of a couple of highlight events.... RL has plenty of highlight opportunities and still earn fantastic coin if you're at the Burgess level of the game..... Just my opinion of course - I'd rather enjoy more moments consistently throughout my life than just have a couple of highlights....

Burgess to RU is about money and ego - both of which he already has plenty of....

I think if players are going to go to RU then they really should've had an existing interest in it. Sinfield has said before how he's wanted to try it for a while so you imagine he follows it and knows the jist of what's going on. Some guys who have made the move you wonder just how much (if any) RU they've actually ever watched before making the move. Didn't Sam Tomkins say something along the lines of he's never really watched a game of RU before he made his Barbarians appearance a few years back.

Yeah, that's what they think. That they'll become a sporting icon playing in front of 70k.

If that's what they want, then good luck to them.

Union and League are like Chalk and Cheese. But Chalk doesn't taste as nice as Cheese.

The chalk may not taste very nice, but it gives you a paid off mortgage with disposable income to invest and grow for financial freedom.

Correct. Why should a professional player that has won everything in our game not seek a better opportunity and a new challenge which will secure his financial future in a big way. He will earn at least double his basic and should double that again with off field deals.

In addition someone with Watkins skills will almost certainly make it in to the English squad where he will get the chance to star on the big stage around the world and hit the earnings jackpot and line up a second career after he retires.

To suggest that he is somehow a traitor or shouldn't take the chance if offered is small minded and a bit hypocritical when you consider how League used the cheque book to attract so many Union stars that enriched our game so much.

If it works out well. What about the cases of Chev Walker and Lee Smith. Come back a year or less later, your stock having dropped. Picked up in one case by HKR never to be the player or expect the wages you could had you stayed.

For the short period they were in RU, do you think those two players over the next 5-6 years made less money than if they'd have stayed at Leeds, carried on being a part of our successes and rewarded by the club.

I'd suggest both have made less money in their careers because of a short stay in RU derailing their careers.

Where would Watkins play in union? Outside centre would be the obvious choice, but Bath, and England already have Joseph who is similar in style to Watkins. Like Burgess, it would be a waste of talent.

But neither of these players were good enough so not relevant to the current discussion. Watkins is a totally different proposition. Only the very best will make the transition

He could start on the wing but could play in either centre positions. But top Union clubs have bigger squads and rotate

How good he is in RL is not a given on how he'll succeed in RU. It's like the players who have came over from the NRL, their's been good players who have failed in Super League....their's been unknown guys who have been successful. You have no idea how Watkins would settle and enjoy and adapt to RU.

Both were internationals and Chev, in particular was a very prodigious league talent, bursting on the scene in a bigger way than Watkins, though without his natural talent. You're doing Chev a real dis-service. I think he is a very salutary lesson for how it can ruin your career if you do not settle and make the transition.

Could be a Chev Walker or Lee Smith, but equally could be an Israel Folau or Jason Robinson.

Going to Union is both a risk and an opportunity for a player like Watkins.

If he stays in RL he gets a top RL wage for virtually the rest of his career and there's the possibility of quite high wages in the NRL.

If he goes to Union there is the opportunity of very high wages and fame. But there is also a higher chance of failure than in League. I don't actually think Watkins is the right player to make the switch to Union, not in England anyway. I don't think any Union team will use him right.
I actually think full backs and wingers are the best option for the switch. I reckon someone like Josh Charnley or Ben Jones-Bishop would do pretty well in Union.

I may be disappointed when any RL player moves to Union but I can't say I blame them. All I ask of them is not to forget or be ashamed of their roots and don't forget the sport that took you out of (most likely) a dead-end, minimum wage job.

First of all you're assuming should he return he'd be straight up to speed and at the level he was prior to defecting but for debates sake i'd say Thurston ,Sean Johnson and Cameron Smith!