I'm not sure I get the whole Swain thing, yes, as I've said before he's a good workhorse and never lets us down but seriously he's not the classy-ist Loose forward you'll ever see. He rarely creates anything, he's just like a second rower in many aspects. I wan't my loose forward to be more like Sculthorpe was or Sinfield is (or John Pendlebury).
He's takes up an overseas spot which, if we can fill that with a top aussie / kiwi / south sea islander from the NRL (ala the Patten of the forward world) then I think its a wise move.
And again we don't know if he wanted to stay or if this offer to France was too good to turn down. You know what the aussies are like they love to travel.
For me I'm much happier keeping a top quality centre like Mark Henry, a world class full back in Patten, A stand off of the likes we haven't seen for years in Holdsworth and a top notch Prop in Cashmere than Swain.
As a replacement Stephen Wild again as I've pointed out in the past their stats aren't far off each other. Although there was a musing regarding Langley?
I'm not knocking the lad but for me, along with the others who are leaving, its the best way to move forward.