vaeiliki has been playing reserve grade for manly in the NRL.
so yet again it shows that a reserve grade RL player is good enough for one of the top level union competitions in the world.
wycliff palu and rocky elsom arent a dieing breed,
I suppose what this deal does is show up the relative inadequacy of Union coaching in France (or at least at this level in France) versus coaching in League.
While Vaealiki may not be missed in terms of playing ability, his departure could have a knock-on affect down the line. Albi are among the weaker teams in the Top 14 and can't compete financially with bigger clubs like Stade Francais and Toulouse. For that reason, they're looking to pick up bargain basement players with some pedigree from another code to try compete. Vaealiaki follows on from Craig Gower's move to the Top 14 last year, also to a weaker club (Bayonne unless I'm mistaken). In my opinion, he's only going to France because Gower has been successful in his transition.
Assuming Vaealiki is even a moderate success which I'm sure he will be, it will almost certainly lead to more smaller French Union clubs plundering the NRL for affordable talent. At that point it won't be long before the clubs with large budgets (those I've mentioned plus Perpignan, Biarritz, Clermont, Toulon) come knocking seeking the services of top quality Origin players because they'll see the impact players from an NRL background are having on their league.
While NRL may be leaving Super 14 behind in Australia, another threat may be emerging in the shape of another code in Europe. The departure of Gower and Vaealiki may be just a trickle which leads to a flood of departures. Hopefully I'm overstating things and it doesn't come to that.