Sponsored by
Myler: a young man in a hurry
IT is less than two years ago that I sat on the Halifax bench at the Shay and watched Richie Myler in action for Widnes in an under 21s Grand Final.
From memory, the spindly 17 year old had only made one first grade start for the Vikings at that stage, but his quick-stepping talent was obvious.
Myler made one try and scored another, but finished on the losing side as Karl Fairbank's side snatched a second consecutive title.
A few short weeks later, Widnes went bust, and Myler jumped ship for Salford at the earliest available opportunity.
Clearly an ambitious and ruthless talent, I remember thinking. The proverbial young man in a hurry.
Now, after starring for the Reds in their 2008 promotion season and the early months of their Super League life, Myler is engineering himself another leap on the career ladder.
The news the England half back, who has made a huge impression in his two appearances for the national team, including a 30-point haul in Paris last week, had knocked back the Reds' offer of a contract extension was one of the less surprising announcements of modern times.
Warrington are known to be stalking Myler, even though he still has another season remaining on his current deal after this one.
With England's Tony Smith conveniently at the helm at the Halliwell Jones - I bet those dinnertime conversations in France last week made for interesting listening - and music mogul Simon Moran's millions burning a hole in his pocket, the Wolves will surely get their man, or boy, sooner rather than later.
Given the plethora of anti-tampering rules that have been put in place to supposedly prevent this kind of agitation, it would be easy to feel sorry for Salford, who are about to lose a player who should be theirs for another 18 months.
That is, if they hadn't been quite happy to do the dirty on Widnes in the first place.
Young Richie is a prodigious talent - potentially the best British half back since old milk bottle legs himself, the great Andy Gregory - but, from the outside looking in, loyalty doesn't seem to be high on his agenda.
And if he does end up at Warrington, they had better make sure they win something, pronto.
Otherwise he will no doubt start eyeing his next career upgrade.
MENTION of mealtime chit chat brings me to the Hetherington family: Gary, the big boss of Leeds, and Kath, the Hull supremo.
The former Sheffield pair have traded plenty of players in recent seasons, with Rhinos utility back Jordan Tansey the latest to make a permanent transition for 2010.
Tansey has been on loan with the Sydney Roosters, but will return to England with Hull after the clubs agreed a 'compensation package'.
You can just imagine it.
GH: Pass the ketchup, please dear.
KH: No.
GH: What? After I gave you Jamie Thackray and Jodie Broughton?
KH: It's Tansey or nothing, love.
GH: Oh, go on then.
*contracts are scribbled on napkins and condiments are exchanged.
Email to a friend
Print this page- A58 crash UPDATE: road now re-open after man hit by car earlier this morning
- Crash on the A58 in Halifax this morning UPDATE: Man in hospital with several broken bones
- Taxi worker dies aged 35 after finishing his shift
- Man suffers serious injuries in accident on M62
- How the new Halifax Central Library will look
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -2 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 2 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North west
