If we need to strengthen one area second row would probably be my last choice at the moment. We're well covered. Silly move.

Surely a more pressing priority for next season will be the halves/hooker with Tommy leaving and Finch OOC. As others have said, 2nd row is the last position that needs strengthening.

Exactly. I hope the days of us signing players the wrong side of 30 are gone. With the team we have and the strength in depth that we have got there is simply no need, especially at 2nd row.

It would be a brilliant signing for them if they could get him, however, the articles suggest he is returning to ENGLAND for family reasons. I doubt he would go and live in France.

As someone else suggested. I would like to see him go to one of the lesser teams to pass on his expertise from the NRL. The top clubs in the league already have it. Failing that he would be a great addition to either Hull or Hudds to help them step up to the next level and start making some finals.

Would love to see Burgess and Graham also return at some point.

This whole process is amazingly frustrating. As if it wasn't bad enough seeing RU defectors return with every inch of talent and flare ground out of them, we've now got NRL defectors coming home when they're ready to collect their pensions - and everyone getting excited about it.

I just can't share the view that "it's great for the British game" if our best players go off and spend their prime in another competition. Okay, at least if they're in the NRL they are still available for England selection, though as others have said, for all that they were lauded in Australia, I've never seen either Ellis or Morley add greatly to our Test match efforts. Certainly no more so than many of our home-based forwards.

I know they'll never come back, but I so yearn for the days when our domestic competition boasted some of the most exciting talents in the world, when our top men only went to RU when they'd turned 30, and when they'd spend no more than half a season in Aus 'guesting'.

Are we seriously content to be the talent seedbed not just for Rugby Union but for Australian Rugby League as well?

Are you suggesting Adrian Morley returned from the NRL ready to collect his pension?

All the stuff about three years being too long a deal was also said about Warrington signing Morley - wind back time and I'd bet there would be a few more clubs willing to give Morley that length of contract with the benefit of hindsight.

But we still missed his best years.

Anyway, it isn't just about Morley. It's an overall trend. Most RU defectors have come back crap. When Denis Betts returned from the NRL, he was a shadow of the player he'd once been. It will be interesting to see if Ellis tears it up, but even if he does, it will only be for a year or two. Imagine how he'd have contributed to the British domestic league if he'd been over here instead of winning Player of the Year repeatedly in Australia.

I agree. When Morley joined Warrington I thought you had bought an over the hill prop who was here for retirement money. I thought that Fielden would turn out to be 3x the signing that Morley was and I have been proven wrong.

Imo there is no doubt that Morely improved massively when in Australia, and Warrington got the benefit of this.

I disagree therefore with Cruncher's suggestion.

So because Morley was better than everyone expected him to be for a couple of years, that means it doesn't matter that the new trend is for our star players to spend their best years in Australia (if they're not already going to Rugby Union)?

I'm sure you wouldn't agree with that.

what we have to look at is the root cause of the problem, "why do our top players" want to go to go to the NRL or Yawnion and put in place the mechanisms needed to keep them in the game in Super League.

The point you are missing is this.

Would Morley have been the player he is now for Warrington without playing a stint in the NRL?

I don't think he would have been.

££££

It's called the Communist Cap.

I agree with this and I believe that Ellis will prove to be a better player for his NRL experience into his thirties in Super League.

I personally think that the lifestyle/coaching and conditioning that gareth will have had over in OZ will mean he can come back over here and easily carry on for another three years. I'm pretty sure when morley came back that Tony Smith will have sat him down and asked if there was anything he had been doing in OZ that could be used to better a warrington side that still weren't doing much at the time. Were still behind when it comes to sports nutrition/psychology/conditioning/basic skills and prep compared to the aussies so im sure that players who go over there and are now coming back will have new info for any club looking to sign them as each club is always looking for that extra 1% advantage over other teams.