Lets hope Murphy and his Dad feel some attachment and that the club can offer a fair deal, although I doubt they can match Saints cash for cash.

I reckon we can match Saints for cash

What we can't currently match them for is long term prospects. If Murphy moves it will be for the latter.

People on here seem awfully convinced that Saints are after Murphy, based it seems on a few posters fevered imaginations. I'm hearing Saints have no interest at present, though this may well change.

The general feeling is that Murphy may be a one season wonder. I don't think he is but I certainly get why that would be the current opinion in the game.

Remember also it's a two way street. If Murphy takes the two year deal we are offering (speculation) right now, he's safe. If he holds out and has a poor season for whatever reason, he may well find himself of no interest to other clubs and at the end of a much reduced Trinity offer to boot. It's not always the clubs who lose out. It's a bit of a poker game at times.

Am I right in thinking Lewis is a Huddersfield lad?

We know he has rejected a contract offer already although it`s still early days, my concern with the Saints interest that has been rumoured is if that is playing into his decision then you would imagine that they have already opened up some kind of conversations, which I`m sure is against the rules of the game?

For some reason, this one doesn`t hurt as much for me, yes, he has massive potential and I think he could very much become one of the top wingers in the league, but at this times it`s almost a case of you can`t miss what you don`t have, although he has had a few very good performances we are not at the stage where he is pivotal to the team IMO. I`d sit down with him and find out 1. If he has genuine interest on staying at the club for the right offer or 2. His mind is made up and he is moving on to the likes of Saints. If it`s the latter, I would seriously consider cashing in now, rather than just getting the mandatory compensation.

Things is why would Saints do that? They only have to wait 5 months or so and they are free to talk to him. No other clubs has been linked with him so it's not as if they need to jumped ahead in the race

If he carries on on the same trajectory, I would imagine every club in the league would be interested should he be available, potentially even some NRL interest.

I would not trust Saints one inch , if they fancied signing Murphey they would not abide by the rules and would have nipped in early long before now. Maybe other clubs out there are more honourable and are waiting for the official time to make their move.
I am with Homme Vaste on this one, have a frank conversation and if he is not interested put him on the market now. This would kindle interst from other clubs and at least we would get some compensation.

I am not suggesting Murphey would not give us his all for this season, but i have seen too many times in the past of players moving on and just going through the motions. Plus we have plenty of wing cover.

So we have a great talent and after 1 season we have people looking to sell him on.
I'm glad Carter doesn't have that attitude.

Read the post, i suggested, have a frank conversation and IF he has decided to move on and cant be persuaded to stay. Dont stand in his way and put the clubs interst first. Whats wrong with that.

Any interest from Saints will depend on how successful Ritson is this year, I expect him to be a revelation in super league and will make his move from Barrow permanent.

Carter will do what`s best for the club which is exactly what is being said here if you actually read the posts.

If you sat down with Lewis tomorrow and he was frank and honest and said I'm not going to resign for the club, I see my future elsewhere rather than drag it out as I say and you had 2 options on the table 1.Get some real compensation now in the form of a fee or 2. Get a few grand of compensation and have a player that`s heart isn`t at the club with us for a year.

Hopefully it`s just natural negotiations and he is wanting to stay with the club then that`s good...

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.