DEREK BEAUMONT has revealed just how close Leigh Leopards came to signing reported new St Helens recruit, Tristan Sailor.
It was well documented that the Leopards had attempted to sign the Brisbane Broncos livewire earlier in the year, but they were denied by the Queensland club itself.
Now, according to the Daily Telegraph, St Helens have swooped in and secured the signing of the 26-year-old on a “lucrative” contract.
However, Beaumont has revealed that he spent a lot of money trying to lure Sailor to Leigh after a legal battle.
“I don’t mind saying, I went to a lot of expense because you need your GBE certificate with the RFL and everything has to be done,” Beaumont said on the League Express podcast.
“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 (Brisbane).
“By the time we had gone through all that, the club he was at were like “nope, not happening”. I fully understood, he was their player.”
The Leopards did, however, bring in former Melbourne Storm Aaron Pene during this season.
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