‘Still in talks’ – Derek Beaumont on player linked with Hull FC, St Helens and his frustration

Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont has opened up on how close the club came to securing the services of Tristan Sailor for the 2024 campaign.

Sailor looks set to make the move to Super League over the off-season, with St Helens widely reported to have won the race to sign the full-back for next season ahead of Hull FC.

The 26-year-old is contracted for another season with the NRL club, but will be allowed to leave early in order to make the move to the Northern Hemisphere. Sailor’s season could have been very different, though, had Leigh succeeded in landing him at the back end of 2023.

The club were in talks with Sailor and his representatives and it was suggested by some outlets that a deal was on the verge of being finalised. However, the move fell through with Brisbane opting to keep hold of him to deputise for Reece Walsh this season.

Speaking to the League Express podcast, Derek Beaumont has now explained the intricacies of the deal and why, ultimately, it didn’t happen.

“I don’t mind saying, I went to a lot of expense because you need your GBE (governing body endorsement) certificate with the RFL and everything has to be done,” Beaumont said. “We had to engage in legal stuff because there was the widely reported case with Tristan in the NRL which he was eventually exonerated with.

“I was arguing that the case stigmatised him in terms of what he could achieve and that it stigmatised him with something that he was wrongly charged with. That was supported through a legal argument and accepted. So I went through all that but I didn’t realise that there hadn’t been any kind of blessing at the club.

“By the time we had gone through all that, the club he was at were like ‘not happening’. I fully understood, he was their player. Is that one dead in the water, 100% not. His contract is up at the end of the year there. We’re still very much in talks with him.”