THERE may be plenty of rugby union’s old guard smirking as Castleford’s prolific wing Denny Solomona takes a step closer to switching codes.

Some from that code will see the boot now firmly on the other foot after the pre-professional decades when rugby league used to pick off players, with varying degrees of success, from the other game.

Although Solomona remains a contracted Castleford player he has not turned up for pre-season training with the Yorkshire club and been registered by Sale for the European Champions Cup.

The player tendered his resignation from rugby league to create a case that Castleford would be ready to take to the High Court.

Whatever happens here will have major ramifications for rugby league.

If Sale were to secure Solomona’s services without satisfactory compensation to the club he is currently contracted to, then it would drive a coach and horses through rugby league's contract system.

What would stop a whole host of talented players being tapped up and then suddenly retiring from league to then secure a transfer?

That situation cannot be allowed to happen.

Of course, it is not as if there will be plenty of elite league players queuing up to transfer to the 15-man code, but that sport, fuelled by all the extra money it gets from international events, sponsorship and television deals is awash with cash.

They could certainly make a few tempting offers if they could get away with recruiting players with suddenly no binding ties.

Surely, if Cas and rugby league do not get a favourable outcome here then every single Super League club would probably have to look again at the way they word their contracts to make sure that they are absolutely watertight to such a manoeuvre in future. (If they are not already).

You would like to think that any rational, objective and impartial person would see that Solomona's job of catching a rugby ball and putting over the whitewash has not changed. It is not like he has called it a day to drive buses or train to become a vet - he is still going to be a pro rugby player.

There will be some who will say this is a case of league getting its just deserts from the decades of raiding union, particularly south Wales, for decades.

The reason why there is no comparison to the pre 1995 days before rugby union became professional is pretty simple.

League clubs then were giving professional contracts to amateur union players who were not being employed or paid.

It does show how the times have changed and how vulnerable in a way a small sport like British rugby league is when up against organisations with more financial muscle.

Would not the supreme irony in all of this be, that one of the ways rugby league could deter those flirting with ditching their contracts and switching codes would be to block their return if it did not work out.

Sounds pretty petty,though, doesn’t it?