battye number 8

I suggest you read the statement Barrow put out about our conduct around Ritson, and our willingness to work with them to find solutions that worked for all parties. As a rule we will work around the rules the RFL set out because as a club we have a relatively low opinion of those running the game at the moment (another debate for another time) but continue to work very hard at our relationships with other clubs both here and in the NRL. The club got stung a bit from the Lance Hohaia episode and have been looking to be seen as the good guys for players and club officials ever since.

As for Murphy, we absolutely are interested, and approached Wakefield before we approached Barrow (or so is my understanding). However Wakefield were not interested in any sort of negotiation, and with Murphy out of contract this year we decided to play the long game, which also played into the loan deal for Ritson rather than buying outright. We can’t declare any interest until May, at which point we will then be making a decision about whether Ritson is worth the transfer fee due vs making a play for Murphy, or Tom Davies whose also out of contract next year, and we’re also interested in (I’m sure we would make an offer to Dom Young as well, but that’s somewhat more unlikely). We have quite a few fringe players who may well be leaving next year with Hopoate, Norman and Bell all out of contract for us, so we should have quite a bit of cash to play with. Of course, if Murphy signs a new deal then great Saints will continue to monitor our options, but Will absolutely see Murphy as a strong option in May if he’s still available

Saints have never approached Wakefield.

Yes ,Saints skills of diplomacy and fostering good relations, were there for all to see on the photographs of Belle Vue sarcastically posted on SM last season

At the risk of turning it into a he said she said; we absolutely did. I don’t think it got very far at all as, as I said, Wakefield didn’t even think there was a negotiation to be had, but we absolutely asked the question. We also asked Catalans for Tom Davies but they wanted Percival in return, which we laughed them out of the room for. This is partly why we were so delayed in announcing Ritson, and announced our squad numbers before the deal was done.

But it’s sort of irrelevant as we have Ritson for now, and we definitely have a decision point in May. It’s not a foregone conclusion with Ritson, and the bar is really high as the transfer fee isn’t small and there are lots of options currently on the market. Of course the gauntlet is there for Ritson in that the position is his to lose, and he has a good few months to justify the transfer fee. Lots of maybes at the moment but it’s what keeps an off season interesting.

no they will have just gone direct to his agent. I also know there have been instances were certain clubs also sweeten the agent by offering a direct signing bonus to himself if he can secure the deal. Super beetle must still believe in Fairy tales.