It's not a case of having a player under contract, it's a case of retaining his SL registration.

That could only count for the length of time left on his current contract with us( which is the end of 2022 i believe) so he'd have to leave after a year for it to count, but even then it would need a transfer fee whist ever he is under contract at St George. After that he is a free agent and able to ply his trade wherever he wishes.

No, a registration can be retained, though I pretend to know the mechanics and legalities of the process.

For example, Iestyn Harris was "registered" by his old SL club and the new SL club had to buy him out, upon his return from RU.

I think John Bateman was the same with Wigan - if he came back to any other UK club, they would to buy his registration from Wigan.

Not really. The Harris one was due to him playing a different sport so the contract expiry time wasn’t activated until he had played his remaining RL contract time out. The RFL and NRL have reciprocal agreements on things like contracts, bans etc (see Ben Barba having to serve a ban when he arrived) which means if he played two years out there then no agreement would stand.

As for Bateman that was a different deal entirely. He signed a new contract to start on his return. This explains it. rlhttps://www.hulldailymail.co.uk/sport/rugby-league/rugby-league-news/john-bateman-signs-nrl-deal-1874312.amprl

We could do something like that but i doubt the finances stack up.