What coulda been eh?

What happened at the start of the season wasn't all Kyle's fault. He was put under tremendous pressure by the club over his contract offer and the reaction from all parties was very poor. He was singled out and thrown into the lions by the club. The constant sniping at him in press releases was incredibly childish and you can only imagine how he was treated by the club.

They could clearly see his frame of mind and yet chose to throw him in anyway. They shouldn't have acted so spitefully and should have dropped him until it was settled. Doing it that way would have meant he could have come back in when things had settled down without him getting the level and severity of abuse he got. A kid that young is never going to be able to deal with that kind of pressure and animosity from his own club and supporters. His reaction from there onwards wasn't great either, but it should never have been allowed to happen.

We're losing arguably the most talented young player the club has ever produced. In my 25 years watching Saints I've not seen a youth player with that level of natural talent and now he's lost to us. I'd say given the difference in sports a return to league within 2 years is probably a 50:50 chance and we've now ensured that return won't be to us. If Warrington or Wigan sign him in a year or two I won't enjoy watching him tear us to pieces.

As I said when the eastmond saga was in full swing. The club should have sorted the eastmond and Graham situation way before the season started. That way the decision would be out in the public and everyone would have calmed down before the season started which would have prevented give the two fingers to fans and all the booing.

It's a shame he's going but let's hope he finds the form and helps us push for a cup.

Here's hoping!

You can't force a player to decide. If the player had said no I'm off to union before the season then that would have been that, and employer can only do so much. In the end it's down to the employee to make a choice about their own fate, unless they do something that is a sackable offence.

Saints did not put into the press that he was looking for another club, Saints did not tout him to Sale and Bath publicly during the start of the season. Saints did not throw him onto TV after the move and Saints did not make him play rotton.

Saying don't play him when he was our first choice 7 was just not an option, just like when he decided not to play, it has not been an option to play him. I always thought he would come back after the Easter break, but lets not try to rewrite history. For me the clubs issues with the Eastmond saga go back much further.

We told Long to go and Smith to go and then tried to renegotiate with Eastmond when he was the last halfback standing. Sorry but you negotiate from a full hand of halfbacks, once Long was gone and Smith was gone, Eastmond knew he was the only guy left and could basically name his contract, before he had even had a long run at 7 for Saints. Had we not shown the door to Long and Smith who knows we could have played Eastmond to sign longer term than just 2 years and all this may never have occured.

But in the end it did and there is no point crying over it, Eastmond is a union player and no amount of blame switching will change that.

It should have been sorted before the season kicked off. Saints can't force a player to sign but saints can say, this is what's on the table and you've got until a certain date or it's removed.

If's and And's. What today proved more than ever was that with pace at Fullback it a much different ballgame.
Good as Wello is he has not got the necessary speed to make yardage. in fact I would have to go back to the days of Steve Prescott to name a Saints No1 WITH REAL PACE. In Superleague it is essential. Eastmond proved that today.

Class act, and a BIG loss to English RL. RFL need to do something sharpish to keep home-grown talent in the game or there'll be more following him to the trough!

Don't necessarily disagree with this, but there's also the argument that you negotiate for as long as you can if it means you have a chance of retaining your talent - plenty of 11th hour deals are done when it seems like the player is on the move (TP being a prime example).

I can live with Eastmond taking the Union dollar, just wish he could have dedicated himself to signing off from Saints in style. Still not too late for him to create some real positive memories though...

I honestly don't think he's going to union for the money. He'll have his reasons

He's defo gone for the money. Wasn't it a four year deal worth £250,000 a year?

Also, the international game in union and the heiniken cup is a major draw for players.

How do you know what hes on? Have you got any evidence to back your view?

I do honestly think there are other reasons he's going.