Linking up with Longy again at Leeds on a 2 year deal
https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post...dyT6Dq2Ejh_NyM
Linking up with Longy again at Leeds on a 2 year deal
https://www.loverugbyleague.com/post...dyT6Dq2Ejh_NyM
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
“I am excited to be coming back to Rugby League. Just like the money was right for me when I went to Rugby Union, I think the money is right for me to come back to League now.”
Corrected it for him.
I just hope he gets to play at our place in front of a crowd the horrible little rat.
Without any emotion or looking at his career here, he’s a 31 year old that hasn’t played since March 2020 and has averaged 14 games a year since 2011, coming back to a sport he hasn’t played for ten years. The signs aren’t exactly positive.
As for him, his attitude stunk and often outweighed his ability and the quality was overshadowed by petulance and sticking his fingers up at Saints fans.
St Helens Rugby League Football Club
Incredible that Leeds fans are happy with this, how the mighty have fallen. 31, hasn’t played league in ten years and is clearly only coming for the money because no union team wants him. Stinks of desperation, the type of signing Wire usually make.
Indeed.
He's not going to be on peanuts, so did Leeds suddenly find a big chunk of available salary cap?
Or are they using that ridiculous loophole in the cap rules that idiotically allows a club to remove an injured player's salary from the cap calculation?
Regardless, I hope he's utterly sh*t for them.
I think that he’ll be a lot cheaper than you think. He was let go by Leicester Tigers at the end of the last union season, so quite a few months with no income. No union club wanted him and I doubt that Leeds would have been interested if they hadn’t had the long term injury to Lui.
Just seen the news
I just wanna see him get smashed by the saints.
lestyn Harris, Lee Smith, Joel Tomkins, Chev Walker, Henry Paul, Sam Burgess (off the top of my head) all returned from yawnion half the player that they were previously.
screaming in the family corner, scaring the kiddies
He was a young lad when he left us and poorly advised by his agent (who wasn't Offiah) coupled with a crap time at the club when we were af Widnes
I'm sure he's probably a bit older and wiser now, he's already mentioned he's coming back with machurity
It'll be interesting to see how he goes, he's made a career in Union, but not really set it on fire and also seemed to be injured a lot
I’ve no problem with a sportsman looking to better themselves financially in whatever sport but it was the way he did it that was shoddy. During that season at Widnes after it was announced he was going to Bath at the end of the season he was clearly not trying and it was blatantly obvious to anyone there watching. If he had given his all in his final season then he would have gone with my blessing but his mind was clearly on other things and he let the team down - to the extent where he was dropped from the team if I remember rightly.
He was injured. You never know, he may well have been carrying an injury in the games he was being accused of not trying. I notice Leon Pryce has spoken well of him on social media this afternoon. I wouldn’t have thought he’d have put up with his poor attitude and unprofessionalism.
Surely if he was injured he wouldn’t have been selected. And Eastmond was great for us prior to the season he left - probably the reason why Price speaks well of him- I would rarely accuse a player of not trying but for me and the majority of Saints supporters at Widnes he was not trying.
That's slightly naive. The history of sport is littered with stories of players who were known as lazy or didn't exactly put in a shift most weeks but getting selected because the alternative was a less talented plodder. Matt Le Tissier never ran back past the half way line, but would Southampton ever drop him for not trying? Glenn Hoddle had a similar rep in the 80s, but it would have been mad to drop him. Ben Barba downed tools near the end of his time at Saints, but what was the alternative but to play a potential match winner despite him not putting in a shift? Coaches know when some of their players have their heads elsewhere but they weigh up the pros and cons and decide if a lazy or uncommitted match winner is worth giving a shirt to, and in loads of cases the answer is yes.
It’s a 2 year deal but wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a get out clause after the 1st season. With so much money being thrown around in Japanese and USA rugby I’d be very surprised if he didn’t have options there. But with him not playing for so long and the pandemic situation maybe that has just put off anyone making an offer. Playing for Leeds works out for both parties, Eastmond gets the chance to get some game time and put himself in the shop window, Leeds get injury cover for Lui and Walker.
Being an avid watcher of club rugby union I’d be shocked if he hits anything near the levels he reached at his time at Saints. He’s lost several yards of pace but he’s a lot stronger and better defensively so he could work as a foil for Gale in the mould of Lui.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
Forwards win games. The backs decide by how much.
His injury situation would be a worry. Remember when he first left and Bath said Saints had treated his injury wrongly ? Yet every club he went to he seemed to be out injured a lot.