On the fact of it, it might be bad news for Saints, but let's face it has hardly been a state secret that a) he fancied a pop at Union and b) he might go when his contract was up.
Surely, any half decent CEO would have his mind on this factor when undertaking the recruitment not only for this season, but when in a couple of weeks times, he starts dusting the cheque book off and heading down under for next seasons players.
The other obvious point is, given the fickle nature of our sport, it could be quite possible for any play to run out next week and suffer a season-ending injury. Far more devastating than someone you know is going in xxx months time. Teams have to cope with that sort of thing most seasons.
The one thing we can be positive about, the Rugby League world is quite capabile of generating another Chris Ashton or Kyle Eastmond .... Not so sure the Rugby Union world is.