A bit harsh that innit guv?, nobody's doubting how good he's been, unfortunately he's no longer an absolute super star in both codes but an ageing player well past his best who unlike a bottle of fine french wine is unlikely to get better with age.

By your own admission the fees quoted are well over the odds which I would imagine are manageable by somebody with more money than sense which to some extent contradicts your first paragraph, and on that basis I'm not sure where the win/win situation comes from when with a couple of bob more put to it could take his pick of half the Aussie national side.

If i was a Toronto fan, id be worried about spending that much money, on an ageing player who hasnt played league for years. As a Leeds fan who wants the game here to prosper, Sonny Bill would be an amazing addition to the comp, he's still one of, if not the biggest names in either code, he'l bring lots of much needed publicity to the game. Well done Toronto if they sign him.

The Sydney Roosters had tried to get him to join their illustrious coaching ranks, which in 2020 will include not only Trent Robinson, but also Cooper Cronk and Craig Fitzgibbon. That is because the Chairman and the coach of the Sydney Roosters valued SBW's inspirational role in moulding the Roosters players into a more professional team in 2013.

However even the wealthy Roosters management could not compete with billionaire David Argyle's seemingly bottomless pit of money.

Yet we should look on the bright side of this signing. Assuming that SBW plays as a second rower, his possible combination with ace centre Richard Leutele could create an awesome attacking force for the Toronto Wolfpack.

That is why I hope that the illustrious New Zealander will join the Toronto team, and help them to carve up Super League.

I can see their logic if the story is true. But, it’s plain daft. He may be well known and attract publicity but better publicity would come from building a team that would win things. For that money they could attract real, younger talent and win SL.

I think it can only be good for the sport. Yes he's not the player he was (although I'm sure he'll still be a top player in SL) If he does sign it will he one of the top stories on Sky Sports News, all the papers will cover it. They'll be talking about RL again whereas at the moment they're just not. It also shows that there is some money in the sport.

I hope he signs.

Good. At least someone can see the good news side of this story.

Not for $9m over 2/3 years you can’t. There’s only 2 marquee player spots. The best you can do is split that over 2 players.
I’m assuming Toronto are betting that big name from both codes of rugby, a name supersedes all other RL names will buy them so much publicity and marketing that it’s worth the cost. A name like SBW also attracts other players.
It’s a risk, but maybe not as big a one as some are suggesting.

The biggest issue here is the prescedent it sets.

All agents will potentially demand a big hike in wages.

In RL we all regard footballers as overpaid prima donas. This could set RL down that same path.

The genie is now out of the bottle.....

This is a massive coup for the Toronto Heavyweights. This will put them top 4 easy, probably top 3

No Jean, it wont

We’ve been here before though, with Salford and it didn’t work.

They could buy a sensible team with 2 stars, spend the rest on growing rugby league in Toronto so in 10 years time there’s Canadians playing in the Toronto team and not full of English and Aussies with ponytails.

Can't believe all the tosh on here - we need all the stars we can get in this game. one poster said the rest of north america won't give a t0££. well i've news for you, over here there are vast areas of the country who can't name a single RL player. we need all the help we can get in terms of profile raising. even though he might be playing for a canadian team he will be on many sports pitches over here, and might just persuade some non RL fans to go to a game. we should be seeing the bigger picture, its not really about making toronto a superleague force, its a chance to raise the profile of the game both in the media and with sports fans

we get opportunities to promote the game like this and yet its never good enough for some