In the absence of any other knowledge (i.e. he is a bad egg, causing problems etc) I don't understand why he is not in the picture at the Bulls and certainly why people are saying he shouldn't even be around the club.
I don't follow many players on Twitter but I get the impression he is still pally with a few.
He is a good player, yeah his defence needs work but he is one of our better forwards and we are paying him, we have a small squad, we need everyone we can get.
You maybe don't see it in rugby as much, but plenty of players ask for transfers in football and play as they always have until they move on, or in some instances, stay.
The ones that go on strike and start slagging people off, then yeah more often than not they are kept out of the way.
He has seemingly told the truth, he wants to leave to better himself, not for financial reasons (turned down Salford's money). Plenty of players sign for other clubs (and even play against them) in the season before they leave and carry on playing for their current club. If I'm going for interviews and looking for another job, my current employer doesn't make me go and make the tea or stay at home. Addy has turned down his contract supposedly, is he going to be left out? Lulia?
Some people forget that as emotional it is to us fans, sport is their job. I respected Fielden for saying when he left us for Wigan - "I couldn't turn down that kind of money!", he was honest and deserved that kind of money after his performances for us.
If he is a bad egg, causing unrest, or we really think we can get some (much needed) big money for him very soon, so are keeping him from getting injured then yeah keep him out of the way.. but if not, play him.. he is being paid to and he does a good job.

I can agree with you pretty much. Remember when Darryl Clark handed in a transfer request at Cas? He was told to forget it, in no uncertain terms. He carried on playing for the first team, with no apparent effects to overall team morale or performance.
He's still at the club now, and while there is some speculation about his future once this season is over, for the time being he is staying put.

I do wonder what our stance would have been if Elliott played in a position where we had zero cover, or was a pivotal member of the team in the same vein as Clark at Cas. As it is, we actually have ample cover at 2nd row and were even able to turn Elliott's omission into something of a positive by bringing in Oliver Roberts who, by all accounts, had a fine first team debut at Saints t'other week.

Fielden was completely different, we had his best years by a mile, he was so good for us that he owed us nothing, and we got an absolute monster deal out of it.

And he agreed to sign for the bottom club, (lol) purely for money, which is also the reverse of what we are told Whiteheads aims are and he's turned down the bottom club.

Whitehead isn't doing anything he doesn't 'owe 'us'
As far as we know, he hasn't said that he won't play, he is doing exactly what he owes us. While I would rather him be happy and want to become a top player with us, it's his perogative to look elsewhere, it's a free country, as long as he fulfils any commitments fully to us until such a time occurs.
Fielden's situation wasn't all that different, most presumed he still had good years ahead of him too, just didn't work out that way. He still decided he wanted to move on part way through a contract.
I just wondered why we have stopped him playing and some don't want him around the club altogether? Is there something more to it?

Could be any number of reasons why we've stopped Whitehead playing with us.

Maybe there's a disagreement, perhaps FC doesn't want a discontented EW hanging around. Could be understandable if there's an "atmosphere". FC may want only people who are 100% committed around. Maybe EW's fallen out with other squad members? Speculate away!

I might have a different view of life to most but I do think home-grown sportsmen/women do owe some allegiance to their clubs if the clubs have invested a great deal in their education & development. I would say Fielden had paid that back, & some, whereas Whitehead probably hasn't so far. If my employer paid for me to go through full-time education or training, to the extent that I wasn't earning them any net income, I would feel I owed them a heavy debt in recognition.

Elliot Whitehead s’engage avec les Dragons bit.ly/1aAtYQh Le jeune 2nde ligne anglais a signé jusqu'à la fin de la saison 2015 Elliot Whitehead engages with the bit.ly/1aAtYQh Dragons the young person 2nde English line signed until the end of the season 2015 Google translation

Elliot Whitehead s’engage avec les Dragons bit.ly/1aAtYQh Le jeune 2nde ligne anglais a signé jusqu'à la fin de la saison 2015 Elliot Whitehead engages with the bit.ly/1aAtYQh Dragons the young person 2nde English line signed until the end of the season 2015 Google translation

Have we received a transfer fee?

it suggest we did the link goes to a report in English.

Can't see us rolling over and letting go without a fee so soon.

Yeah I think we got a fee. Glad he's gone to Catalan at least he's stuck by his word of going to a top 4 team.

The phrase "an agreement concerning the fee" could mean anything. I hope we got a big one though if its true.
No doubt we will be spun a line about it all anyway.

At least it's over.

Hope the fee can be used to bring in some quality next season.

Pleased it has been resolved. Whilst I am not devastated to lose Whitehead I just hope it isn't the first of many of our homegrown products.

We really need some good news to come out of the club as soon as possible really. I'm disregarding the Chev Walker deal because that is not exactly good news in my book.
But with Elliott leaving, Lulia leaving, and Addy supposedly off to Cas, we really need something to boost morale.