The race for Bradford Bulls forward Sam Burgess looks no clearer if the buzz of the press room is anything to go by.
I was in London last week following the Challenge Cup final for a certain paymaster and in the media filled bars following various events, my antipodean twang often resulted in discussions about the NRL.
Those discussions naturally then flowed on to Sam Burgess and his likely destination.
Burgess’ move to the NRL is big news in rugby league circles in England, and rightly so.
He is without doubt the best young forward in the game and without question has the potential to make as big an impact on the Australian competition as any of his countrymen have.
But just where will it be?
Judging from the gossip, it looks to be down to either the Rabbitohs or Sea Eagles.
Of course, the Russell Crowe angle has already worked its way into the Sydney papers, although the Sea Eagles had been working on a deal long before that.
One scribe told me that he had been told by an official at Souths that it was close to a done deal.
However, Mike Stephenson from Sky Sports later told me that Burgess would be heading Manly (He also said I could quote him, so there you go Stevo!)
Stephenson argued that Manly had nailed the deal because they had agreed to also take Burgess’ brother Luke who currently plays with the Leeds Rhinos.
Of course, Manly have a good recent record of signing brothers. They trumped St George for Brett Stewart’s signature when they agreed to also take on brother Glenn.
“Stevo” also said that the ability for him to live by the beach was also a big one in the Sea Eagles favour.
This factor though was probably slightly overplayed given 90 percent of the Sydney NRL based players seem to live on the near one of the Northern Beaches, Coogee, Marouba or Cronulla.
Maybe those chilly nights in Emu Plains when he was playing for the Panthers are still haunting the old forward.
Finally, it must said that no discussion about the fact that one of England’s brightest prospects was leaving competition brought about claims that it was killing the game there and that more must be done to stop it.
Which is exactly what I’d expect from plenty of Australia journalists.
Maybe like many of the good ales in the UK, they handle things differently to us and its not always for the worst.
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