I think he can swim but don't know how well.

Which is pretty much what Kyle Amor did.
Kyle had just over a year left on his contract and was attracting a lot of interest from other clubs who were challenging for honours
He told the club he wouldn’t be signing another contract but would honour his current one or would go immediately if the club could get a transfer fee for him, which we did.

Snowie's right. I'd hate to see TJ leave the club but he has to think about his own career. He won't get international honours on the back of the occasional spectacular game for Trinity. He needs consistency - not Trinity's strong point.

Im just watching St George Illawarra against the Knights, if Johnstone goes to the NRL St George’s stadium is right on the beach. That should suit Johnstone’s needs

I beg to differ.
There is no doubting Tom's ability on the field, he is consistent, and he doesn't score the 'occasional' spectacular try he scores regular spectacular tries!
The consistency that Tom needs is to be injury free for a lengthy time, but it's a result of the fearless way he plays that the injuries occur.
IMO Tom Johnstone is the best winger in SL. Makinson gets lots of praise with Saints, and rightly so, but there's not much between him and Tom - ok I'm biased but I would say Tom has the edge, because I believe he is probably faster than Makinson

That’s the WIN stadium in Wollongong… the stadium of the former Illawarra Steelers who were lost in the merger with St George … who’s main stadium is in Kograh about 30/40 minutes walk from Brighton Beach at Botany Bay…

I lived in The Gong for half a dozen years… and regularly walked the dogs behind the stadium and on the dog friendly beach just to the south of the stadium and all the way to port Kembla harbour.

However if tJ were to go to the NRL I would recommend Melbourne a very structured team where he would be well looked after. And it’s not near the beach!!

Completely agree about Melbourne, Bellamy is the best coach in the game and his record for developing players is outstanding, Tom would flourish under Bellamy. Crucially Tom has that one element that Bellamy loves in his wingers ‘speed’. Just look at how many opportunities they create for their edge finishers.

Some SL stats on wingers

Tries:
Tommy Makinson: 11
Ken Sio: 11
Josh Charnley: 8
Greg Eden: 7
Tom Johnstone: 7
Ryan Hall: 5
Ash Handley: 5
Jermaine McGillvary: 4
Matty Russell: 4
Adam Swift: 3
Liam Marshall: 3
Tom Davies: 1

Tries per game:
Tommy Makinson: 1.6
Ken Sio: 1.6
Greg Eden: 1.4
Josh Charnley: 1.33
Tom Johnstone: 0.88
Ryan Hall: 0.63
Ash Handley: 0.63
Jermaine McGillvary: 0.57
Matty Russell: 0.5
Liam Marshall: 0.43
Adam Swift: 0.375
Tom Davies: 0.14

Metres:
Tommy Makinson: 1326 (highest in the competition from any player)
Ash Handley: 1063
Tom Johnstone: 1063
Ryan Hall: 1056
Tom Davies: 1040
Ken Sio: 988
Jermain McGillvary: 918
Adam Swift: 879
Matty Russell: 834
Greg Eden: 644
Liam Marshall: 589
Josh Charnley: 425

Average gain:
Tommy Makinson: 10.61 metres per carry
Ken Sio: 9.88 metres per carry
Tom Johnstone: 9.49 metres per carry
Jermaine McGillvary: 9.18 metres per carry
Greg Eden: 9.07 metres per carry
Tom Davies: 8.52 metres per carry
Ash Handley: 8.44 metres per carry
Ryan Hall: 8.06 metres per carry
Adam Swift: 7.85 metres per carry
Matty Russell: 7.51 metres per carry
Liam Marshall: 7.27 metres per carry
Josh Charnley: 6.44 metres per carry

Clean Breaks:
Tommy Makinson: 14 (highest in the competition from any player)
Tom Johnstone: 11
Greg Eden: 10
Ryan Hall: 10
Adam Swift: 7
Ash Handley: 5
Ken Sio: 5
Matty Russell: 5
Josh Charnley: 5
Jermaine McGillvary: 4
Tom Davies: 3
Liam Marshall: 2

Makinson is a class winger and has been for some time, but the best way to compare is to imagine how good Makinson would look in the various Trinity teams of the past 6/7 years and how good Johnstone would look in a dominant St Helens team. Certainly the stats would be reversed at the least in my view.

Alternately, imagine Johnstone and Makinson in the same team next year

Sell Tom with Murphy an able replacement and use the funds to get Andrew Fifita in next season….

Nah, wont happen - we couldn’t afford Makinson

He’s off contract at the end of the year so we’ll get nothing for him. He’s either staying or going, the club will probably know either way by now and will have plans in place for either his stay or departure. If he goes it will be bitter sweet, we’ve never seen him play consistently due to an array of injury issues, which is a shame but I should imagine he’ll be one of our top earners? As a club of our stature can we afford to have one of our highest earner sat in the stands consistently season after season (genuinely no offence to the player, I think he’s the best winger in my time watching, when playing) just saying from a buisness point of view, if he left the money could be used else where ie in the front row. I’ll be happy if he resigns and disappointed if he left but not deflated.