Kyle

Lots of rugby league players have made the switch to rugby union. Each and every time it has irked me considerably, but none more so than Kyle Eastmond's decision to leave St.Helens for Bath at the end of the current Super League season.

It's not that he is the best player to ever cross codes. Jason Robinson was a key member of the 2003 World Cup winning side and is undoubtedly the best of those to have crossed the divide. Henry Paul, Andy Farrell, Lesley Vainikolo and Shontayne Hape have all played union for England following successful rugby league careers, while Chris Ashton had one successful season at Wigan and can now be found bewildering clueless union defenders.

Yet Eastmond is the first high profile (well, relatively, more on which later) St.Helens player to make the move. All of which stings a bit given my natural bias and my long-time hatred of union. It's an appalling excuse for a sport which seems to serve no purpose other than to give doctors and dentists something to shout about when Chelsea aren't playing. And yet it continues to attract the cream of young rugby league talent thanks to the financial power it has acquired since following league into professionalism.

Like Ashton, Eastmond turns to the dark side at a time when he has achieved very little in rugby league. He has (or had) undoubted potential but at just 21 years of age he had yet to establish himself as a worthy successor to Sean Long in the scrum-half position. When Saints let Long leave for Hull they put a lot of faith in Eastmond's potential, a move which has now spectacularly backfired. It leaves them hanging on to a player who clearly has his mind elsewhere as they use the remainder of this season to try to find a replacement.

Though it may not suit the suits at Bath, it would be far better for Saints if Eastmond were to go now. He was booed by a section of the support during the disappointing 25-18 defeat to Warrington at the weekend, a situation which prompted him to head straight for the tunnel at the final whistle rather than stay on the field to thank the support. Coach Royce Simmons was unimpressed by this, launching a thinly veiled attack on Eastmond with meanderings about sticking together as a team and grumbles about the unsatisfactory nature of carrying a player with what was then an uncertain future. It's clear that Simmons would rather move on from Eastmond, though it looks as though he will be forced to stick by him until the end of 2011.

Eastmond has immediately made noises about promising to give his very best for the remainder of the season. This might be considered a small mercy given that there is no obvious candidate to replace him in the number seven jersey at present, but I for one would rather have a rudderless ship than persevere with a player who clearly has no desire not only to play for St.Helens (a heinous crime in itself) but to even play the sport of rugby league! No player is bigger than the club, let alone the sport, and in drawing out this ridiculous transfer saga Eastmond has shown little respect for the club he recently alleged that he 'loved', nor the game itself. No doubt the player's agent, a certain Mr Offiah, has been more than instrumental in securing a deal with the rah-rahs. And we all know how much he loves St.Helens, not to mention his penchant for a wedge of cash. Ten percent, anyone?

Cathartic as it is, Eastmond-bashing will not stop similarly talented players from making the same choice in the future. Notwithstanding the money available in union, that game somehow enjoys a greater public profile and can make superstars of it's top performers almost overnight. Ashton's tedious try celebration has received more press coverage over the last two months than anything achieved by a rugby league player at the start of the new season. In addition, you can barely switch on your television these days without seeing Gavin Henson, Austin Healey of Matt Fecking Dawson engaging in some inane brand of 'reality entertainment'.

I'm not sure I want to see James Graham on 'Hole In The Wall' or 'Strictly', but I do think that he and his contempories deserve a little higher profile than they are currently afforded. Yet until rugby league develops a credible international structure the fact that these are among the fittest and best athletes in sport is likely to remain lost on most of the population. Currently only three nations (Australia, New Zealand and England......just) play rugby league to a high level internationally, a situation perpetuated by the governing body's weakness in allowing players to switch international allegiances almost willy and indeed nilly. You can't continue to allow the Fijis and the Tongas of this world to be used as stepping stones to the Australian national side and expect to have a truly global game at the end of it.

And doesn't Kyle Eastmond know it......?