Apparently they matched Bath's offer, but he clearly felt his future lay beyond the lovely town of St Helens. He'll need to produce for Saints though, otherwise he would do as well to go now. His form so far has been shocking by all accounts.

cant believe saints offered him the same money

he will start on the wing for bath... then go to full back.

you can tell he was going to bath the way he has been playing

Sod him if he wants to go to yawnion. He'll get bored on the wing twiddling his thumbs. Can't fault him for going for the money he'll earn but Saints should play him in the reserves for some games this season and blood another young lad in readiness for next season. He was a good player but far from the finished article and thought he was bigger than the club by all accounts.

Union's cap is £4M and they don't even adhere to that. In France the cap is higher still and just there as a token measure to be looked back at as they soar past it.

I don't know the exact details with regards TV deals but ESPN show union matches as well as Sky so they have negotiated in there to get that. ITV pay so they can broadcast a highlights show as well. It's like BBC's Superleague show, but professionally done and broadcast nationally.

Try and google to find out how much the union deal is worth and you'll have great trouble finding it. It's bent.

Eastmond will not only be earning a bigger salary but now will be pen to more personal sponsorships, endorsements etc. So in the time he has before his biscuit ankles give way on him he now has much more earning potential.

Ultimately though this is a hugely complicated issue that has chicken & egg parts to it as well as the class system and inept RFL top brass hindering the game from being paid what it is truly worth to the broadcasters IMO. It will be interesting to see what kind of TV deal we can negotiate this time given the viewing figures they get for our games, the relative money going to union and the fact that the people running our game sometimes look like they couldn't organise a good session down the boozer.

Not robust enough for international selection. A good hard tackle and he limps off. And we ought to know, it has happened when we have been playing them.

My opinion too.

Regarding Tompkins as an international, I did not see anything special either in the four nations ( Robinson shone more) or in the w/c challenge. Only one glimpse of anything when he got taken out on a kick through, having said that he was only getting something back that he does on a regular basis, he is a little cheat on the quiet, and the sooner refs pick up on him the better.

Saints are in rebuilding mode at the moment, so I would blood a youngster as you say, and sod Eastmond off into the second team and let him stew there for the season, he is on contract so can`t do anything about it and his game should suffer for this and Bath would have to start afresh with him.
Can`t blame him for going for the money, but if Saints offered him the same, I have an issue with that as Saints have put 7 years into his development.

It would be unfair to judge Tompkins harshly based on the four nations as hardly any of the squad did themselves any favours. Robinson did himself no harm, but on a week by week basis Tompkins has shown he has something very special and he will become a class act on the international stage given time. How old is he anyway? So much talent it's a joke, but I agree he does have a sly side to his game which he could do without as he is good enough that he doesn't need to cheat.

Tomkins !!!!!!!!!!

The Tompkins spelling was annoying me