O'Driscoll for St Helens?

[ali]

What a coup this would be. The man regarded as the best Union centre in the world is supposedly keen on our version of rugby. Whether all this talk is just to bolster a new contract who knows, but I'd love to see him come across. I found this news on the totalrl.com forum.

Driving into work this morning (in Dublin) I heard on Lite FM's sports bulletin that Irelands rugby union man Brian O'Driscoll wants to play League. and that he is linked to St helens.

anyone know anymore?

and more from Welease Wodger

Well I don't know. It may have legs.

I just spoke to a contact I have in the game here. He tells me that when O'Driscoll was in Sydney this year he and the rest of the Irish team were desperatly looking for tickets to the Penrith v Sydney GF (along with the Scots and italian squads).

Aparantly O'Driscoll is a big fan of League. He got to the game and is reported to say 'this is the game for me'.

Call it BS if you want but I know this comes from a very reliable source.

He also tells me that O'D has indeed spoke to St Helens but it was all to be kept quite til after the ruwc.

Does anyone have a contact in St Helens to check this out?

They didn't say when it would happen though so it may be in a year or two. He'd wanna hurry up though.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

This kind of speculation comes up all the time and it almost always turns out to be a disappointment, but how good would it be if he did switch?

This guy would be a good RL player. I have seen him a few times, in fact only watched a bit of the UWC just to see guys like him who might be good at League, and I reckon he looks like a League player. The way he runs with the ball reminds me of a typical RL back.

If there are supposedly RL players who want to 'try' the other code then surely there must be a few union guys who want to try RL, but I can't help but think that money is our downfall. Signing players like him could be the best thing we could do for the game in places like Ireland.

I doubt it will happen but fingers crossed. Even if it is just a tactic to get more money I hope it works and they have to spend heaps of their UWC profit on keeping players threatening to jump ship.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

This kind of speculation comes up all the time and it almost always turns out to be a disappointment, but how good would it be if he did switch?

This guy would be a good RL player. I have seen him a few times, in fact only watched a bit of the UWC just to see guys like him who might be good at League, and I reckon he looks like a League player. The way he runs with the ball reminds me of a typical RL back.

If there are supposedly RL players who want to 'try' the other code then surely there must be a few union guys who want to try RL, but I can't help but think that money is our downfall. Signing players like him could be the best thing we could do for the game in places like Ireland.

I doubt it will happen but fingers crossed. Even if it is just a tactic to get more money I hope it works and they have to spend heaps of their UWC profit on keeping players threatening to jump ship.

I also don't actually believe it would happen, but alarmingly it would fit like a glove given recent happenings.

Wigan Chairman Maurice Lyndsey has today come out of the blue and denied in the national media that they have signed Martin Gleeson from Saints. Why? I have not heard one mention of Gleeson leaving Saints, so why deny something that is not even being talked about? If Saints were releasing Gleeson to sign O'Driscoll it would fit as Wigan have no specialised centres yet released an international centre in Paul Johnson.

Mind you, Wigan would probably stop Saints signing as big a name as O'Driscoll anyway. Wigan's bizarre denial about Gleeson could just be a smokescreen?

Its an interesting one, but I don't think it will happen. Money might not be such a factor as Irish based Union players can't be on a fortune as they all sign for Zurich Premiership clubs once they have a reputation.

I think a lot of Union players who are honest would admit to liking League. Johnny Wilkinson and Clive Woodward have both spoken openly in the past about their admiration for League, and Wilkinson has said he follows as much league as he can whilst not playing Union. His young brother played league for Gateshead with Johnny going to watch him on regularly. Whether any Union stars would move at the moment though is doubtful given the astronomical coverage Union is getting.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I didn't even know about the Gleeson thing, it sounds unusual, but I can't see Saints letting Gleeson go even if it was to sign O'Driscoll. If they had been talking with him for a while then why sign Gilmour? Maybe they'll play him at prop :roll: I also wouldn't read much into Johnson leaving Wigan, they had to let someone go coz of the cap and they do have several other centres at the club, like Aspinwall, Hodgson, Ainscough(?) and maybe even O'Laughlin will play centre with Farrell and Orr at 13 and 6. I wouldn't even say Johnson is an international centre, he played wing 2 years ago as a fill in and isn't likely to be picked again. Who knows why Mo made a statement about Gleeson, but it was probably just to stir up problems at Saints.

Either way I hope we can sign up some top union players, not coz they're much good, just coz it would piss them off big time. I would rather see SL clubs throwing money at union players from the Celtic nations as opposed to over-the-hill NRL blokes.

 

[Stevo_G]

i doubt he will move to league, but it would be a good thing rfl would have him and carney to promote the league over in island

 

[Alan Shore]

It doesn't really matter if we sign top Yawnyawn players or not. League juniors are of superior quality. The important thing for the RFL and NRL is to put bids in for top players who could make the transition, in order to generate publicity and cause the Union nitwits to have to fork out extra.

 

[Fairleigh Good!]

It doesn't really matter if we sign top Yawnyawn players or not. League juniors are of superior quality. The important thing for the RFL and NRL is to put bids in for top players who could make the transition, in order to generate publicity and cause the Union nitwits to have to fork out extra.

O'Driscoll is a pearl though. Even in Union he looks a fine player and would adopt perfectly to playing centre in league given time. Scott Gibbs wasn't as good as he is, but he made it in league. I would love this to be true, but I can't see any high profile Union players moving codes at the moment though, there is too much hype and money floating about their code. It would take a truely dedicated trail-blazer to want to step into the unknown like that.

There is something afoot at Saints though. The in-and-outs are way off when you consider that Newlove, Britt, Ward, Smith, Martyn have all left on massive salaries. They have been replaced by Bibey, Fozard, Talau and Gilmour who must surely not get near what stars like Newlove were earning. If we say Talau is on Ward's wages, Fozzard and Bibey comined having Britt's, Gimlour on Smith's, that leaves whatever Martyn was earning free. Even by very simple maths like this, you can see that Saints should have a couple of hundred thousand knocking about.

I think a prop is still No 1 priority, so any other positions would possibly have to be like for like changes.

 

[East Coast Tiger]

I'm not sure they have the money to spend. Yeah they've lost some good players and replaced them with lesser ones, but I don't think this measn they'll have some left for another big signing.

1) Salary cap - they may need to cut back to avoid another breach.
2) Debt - they may want to cut back for financial reasons, after all they are in massive debt.
3) Inflation - The players they have signed may be on similar money as the ones they let go: Fozzard could have earned a fair bit at Wires so I reckon Saints would have had to pay a bit for him, they were desperate for a prop.
Gilmour is a current international and must surely cost quite a bit.
Many of the Aussies, as good as they are, demand less money than you would expect because in real terms (echange rates etc.) they still earn a lot. AND
They might be making room to resign the likes of Scully, Wellens, Cunningham etc. in the next 12 months.

I just can't imagine why they would sign Gilmour, whilst they've got Gleeson and Talau, if they were chasing O'Driscoll. I also don't think Wigan have room for Gleeson in the cap, even minus Briscoe (who would have been on little $) Johnson and a few others. He is a great player Saints would be mad to lose, especially to the Pies.

I hope I'm wrong and he switches, but I never hold my breath in these cases.

From the thread on TotalRL it seems there's likely speculation he will, but will it be Saints? and will it be soon?

 

[In-goal]

Gee if a RL club could sign one of unions highest proffile players from Ireland it would certainly be a shock publicity boom for our game in that country.

Could be what RL needs with RLI trying to promote itself throughout the emerald isle

 

[iggy plop]

The Irish yawnion isn't exactly flush with cash either, so this isn't as crazy as it seems.

 

[In-goal]

i must say it's been a good while since we have seen a good union import.

 

[..::ERIC::..]

Ah, Brad Thorn anybody? He grew up playing union and made the switch. Most league players in New Zealand who don't come from Auckland would have played union most of the time. In saying that, Tasesa Lavea, who is from Auckland, also grew up playing union before making the switch, and then back to union like Thorn.