Quote: Egg Banjo "Castlefords decision to avoid going to court and securing a legal precedent will come back and bite another club in the backside. Sale obviously expected to pay a fee for him in the long run and have secured an international class winger for a fraction of what a RU developed player would cost. I only hope that the club which is bitten is Castleford again as they were the ones who had the chance to stop it happening once and for all but buckled when someone flashed the cash in front of them'"
A few things:
1. You say Solomona cost a fraction of what a RU developed player would cost. Can you name other "RU developed" players costing in excess of 200k?
2. The total cost to Sale is in the region of 400k, which I think most would agree is far more than the player is worth and probably far more than they would have had to pay Castleford for the player if they had gone about their business properly.
3. Cas did the complete opposite of buckling. The club spent in the region of 100k in legal expenses to fight their case, and there is never a guarantee of winning.
4. Even if Cas had won in court, they may not have recovered their legal costs. They may have ended up spending more in legal fees than they were awarded in compensation.
5. Sale clearly didn't expect to pay a fee for him, otherwise they wouldn't have spent a significant amount of money trying to defend the claim.
Castleford have absolutely done the right thing in the interests of the club and the game as a whole. It is now clear than RU cannot sign in-contract RL players for nothing.