Then the question is, can it afford to be professional?

I said way back in Usenet days on rec.sport.rugby.league if the sport went full time it had to be able to pay players a wage that pro sportmen could command because it was asking most of them to give up jobs and careers to stop being semi-pro. It seems to me the sports ability to pay a pro sportmans wage is getting worse not better.

The s/c has not gone up for several years (when the flat rater cap came in it was supposed to each year by inflation but I don't think it ever has). We would not be at £4m if it had increased in line with inflation, it would be about £1.8m. As it is, it's actually worth about £1.3m these days compared to 2004.

£1.8m is an average of £72K a player in a squad of 25 and I reckon given there will be a wide range of wages from the least experienced/worst players to the best so paying out £200K would be do-able on a cap of £1.8m without upsetting the balance. I don't think you need £4m.

Even then it may not deter RU but at least they would have to offer more money with reduces their spending power.

I think he's making a mistake, although I don't blame him going for the money. He seems to be prone to injuries, but even when he is fit just doesn't seem to be the player many thought he would. I think it was just over a year ago (maybe slightly longer), I thought Eastmond was a better player than Sam Tomkins. I know he has had his injuries but I just don't think he has progressed at all whilst we have seen first hand the player Sam has become. Because of this, if Eastmond had waited a bit longer (maybe even till the end of the season) before accepting a deal to go to union, would they still have wanted him? He seems scared to take on the line, with his speed and step this should be his forte. If he spends the full season playing like he did against Wire last week, would Saints even want to keep him? Never mind Bath paying him 200k. I know it was only one game, and he may well come good throughout the rest of the season, but with his new employers looking over his shoulder I wouldn't be surprised to see him play like that every week. I think the best thing for Saints would be if he did a Chris Ashton and left now/part way through the season. It's a loss to our sport of course, but not the loss it could have been had he become the player many thought he would.

I do think he'll struggle in union, it'll only take one big hit or four players jumping on top of him and we'll see him limp off again. Maybe he'll come back in a couple of years with his tail between his legs, maybe a new setting and team will change him and he'll excel. We'll see...

I've said it before that losing Eastmond won't be a disaster to RL, I'll accept it is a bit of a blow BUT IMHO there will be another player at St Helens ready to explode in his place. Players are replaceable, Sam Tomkins is replaceable.

RL will move on and Eastmond will too in RU, good luck to him. This argument of RL v RU (player switching wise) will never go away as the transfer accross will never stop, and that is both ways. Maybe Eastmond will realise "Oh bugger I've not made the right move" and come back, maybe not. Either way there will be another player ready to explode onto the scene and IMO 'Kyle Eastmond' will be forgotten by this time next year.

Yeah, but what about when that next player goes as well?

Doing the exercise just for the Saints squad...

Speculation, sure, but (using Eastmond's 200 as a baseline guide) I'd put it something like:

Roby 250
Graham 225
Eastmond 200
Shenton 200
Soliola 180
Wellens 180
Perry 180
Pryce 180
Wilkin 150
Gardner 125
Meli 125
Flannery 120
Puletua 120

(that's the starting 13, more or less, and already over £2.2m)

Who has said that he's been offered £200k per year?
These top line figures are quoted but what he will get from Bath I suspect will be far less than that.
I've always wondered what was on Ashton's P60 after his first year in Union. Anyone really think it would be near to the £140k that was banded around?
His other worry is that will he be a success. The two biggest success stories are Jason Robinson and Chris Ashton. Both wingmen playing in the position that is easiest to make the transition. Same as decades ago when Union players came to League.
Will he replicate those two or be another Chev Walker, Karl Pryce or Gareth Raynor?
Only time and Eastmond will tell.

Sorry if i'm getting the wrong end of the stick, but wasn't that the point of his post? That if (for example) Saints were to pay Eastmond what he is rumored to be getting at Bath, then they would have to pay the rest of the team an inflated wage, such as 180k for Wellens.

Read the thread and engage brain before jumpining in! Geoff and I were speculating what the effect of paying Eastmond £200K a year would be on the rest of Saints squads wages. Geoff seems to think the likes of Meli could then demand £125K if Eastmond was on £200K.

I disagree with him on that. I don't think it follows players of Meli's calibre and vintage could demand wage increases to that level. I think the days of doing as Andy Greg, Shaun Edwards and Elllery did at Wigan when they reputedly went in to demand a pay rise if they got a sniff of one of the others getting a wage rise are long gone at all clubs.

It's hard to take any thread seriously which states that Shenton and Eastmond should be on the same money.

Yes Eastmond has had his injury problems but the guy is an immense talent. There are a lot of people deluding themselves about this guy now that he has signed to go to RU. He and Sam Tomkins are the most naturally gifted players to emerge in SL in recent years. Whatever you think about his move, Eastmond is a very talented player indeed.

I'm gutted that he's gone to RU. To be now rubbishing the guy by suggesting that he's on a par with Shenton (no offence to Shenton, he's a decent player but if someone compared him to Sam Tomkins there would rightly be outrage on the Wigan board) is just wrong. As a RL fan I can understand the temptation to criticise him now he's leaving but it is just wrong to deny he's a big loss.

Finally there is also the star factor. We should have been building Eastmond up as a star in the game. Players like Sam T and Eastmond are special and could be used to bring in fans in the way that people flocked to see Offiah, Hanley, Edwards, Davies etc (well apart from Badwanger, who thinks Wellens is a better player than the Wales legend!). Eastmond could have been a marquee player for the sport but is now lost. Its a really bad day for RL and people need to grow up, face it and start talking about how we can sort out the mess RL has got itself into.

I understand (from a relaible source) that one of the props for Sale is on £300k per year so £200k for Eastmond is more than believeable. The Italian prop at Leicester had reportedly been offer £400k by Stade de France (whose salary bill is reportedly 9m euro per year, with Gasnier's old contract supposedly worth Aus$1m per year) before re-signing with Leicester.

Obviously as any Wigan fan can tell you all the above pale into insignificence in comparison to Matt King's wages at Warrington.

No, King's wages don't match those silly inflated figures in RU. He's just on more than anyone else in RL.

Today's RLFANS made-up fact.

Who's to say his replacement will move over?

I just don't agree that RL losing Eastmond is a disaster, he hardly played last season, didn't really shine playing for England (IMO) and is injury prone. How that suddenly makes it a disaster for RL with him leaving is beyond me.

Like I said, some RL players will convert to RU and some RU players will covert to RL. Thats just the way it is, and IMHO there isn't anyway of stopping that happen due to the financial strength, international game and general "fame" of England RU players. We can raise the SC all we want, fact is RL players want their name to be known [inationally[/i. The only way to do that is RU, ie. Chris Ashton, Jason Robinson but to name the most successful converts.

Doing nothing is not an option.