Eastmond suspended by Saints

Eastmond's attitude shouldn't surprise anybody. He's a young guy and excited about becoming a star in Union. What this does show up for nonsense is all the claptrap about how players leaving is just their business, lets wish them well etc - its probably going to affect Sts for the whole of this season as well as having to find a replacement for next year, and a loss of a talented British player from the game entirely.

Clubs need to work out how better to deal with young players who look like they have star quality. Giving them long-term deals early is one way to help lock them to the club concerned. That does mean taking a punt on players developing as hoped, but it also provides some protection against losing them. Leeds appear to have learned their lesson from the losses of Walker and Smith in that regard, and seem intent on signing up talented backs on long-term deals. Wigan appear to be doing the same.

Somewhat bizarrely in the case of Eastmond, a union club seems perfectly happy to take a punt on Eastmond despite his as yet unfulfilled potential and injury record.

The other related lesson is regarding contract negotiations. Sts could - and should - have made it clear to Eastmond that he either signed with them well before the new season started, or they would not negotiate further - in effect he'd be definitely leaving at the end of this season if he didn't re-sign by a set date.

What they have instead done is shown massive weakness towards a player, enabling him to comfortably carry on talking to all and sundry with no doubt that his fallback position of remaining at at Sts was always there.

On a side note, if I were Bath I'd be a tad concerned about this - it doesn't speak well for the guy's general attitude.