After a less than successful stint in French rugby with Toulon, former Sharks star Ben Barba is set to make a move to the English Super League with St Helens early favourites to land him.
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Though still officially contracted to Toulon, Barba has openly said that he and his manager are talking to Super League clubs with Toulon reportedly keen to offload the player.
Handed a 12-match NRL ban for failing a drugs test last October when he was still with Cronulla, it's understood the Rugby Football League which oversees the Super League won't register any player serving an NRL suspension.
Despite this, both Warrington and St Helens are interested in Barba with new St Helens coach Justin Holbrook clearly keen to sign the 27-year-old.
"I’ve had a couple of chats to him; he’s been frustrated with the rugby union experiment that hasn’t gone as well as he would have liked, so it would be really awesome to have him come on board," Holbrook said after his side's 45-0 win over Hull FC.
"I think for the game it would be nice to have him for a couple of years.
"He’s obviously done a few things wrong in the past, but I think he’s getting to the age now where he can be a leader and not just a player worrying about himself.
"With a bit of luck, it'd be nice to have him in the squad."
