In what specific respect?

plenty time yet for him to come would you come in all that snow

For £150,000 a year, yes I certainly would.

He may well want to for that money but they are stopping em getting thru this tax loop hole lots of agents in Aus are trying to sort things now for players that have arrived at other clubs for this coming season who says there won't be a twist in other players going back him from giants and wigans big 3, but then green over so who knows just wish if rovers know something they would let us all know sooner rather than later.

I haven't a clue what any of that means.

My guess is that he is obviating the need for a visa by acquiring a Tongan passport. The Kolpak ruling is no good for getting around the quota anymore, but it was possibly seen as an easier and more reliable route for getting into the country than an Aus visa. Whether that judgement has been borne out, I don't know.

The tax changes are going to have an impact - but if a player wanted to back out of a deal now, they'd be short of options. Berrigan has take the one of the last bits of quota-space over in the NRL.

We might see a few more heading back for 2012 - but people want to see more British kids given a shot, so it isn't the end of the world. Also if a tax loophole effectively means that an Australian is cheaper or better recompensed than a Brit of the same ability that is unfair and has been distorting the market.

Yep that's exactly what I meant well said

Except that Tongan passport holders still need a visa to work in the UK.

Yeah, I'd assumed (wrongly) that being an ACP country allowed free movement of labour as well preventing discriminatory rules once a worker is here. When people call for a more aggressive approach to the quota from the RFL, I don't think they realise just how close the rules sail to the wind as it is.
Perhaps then the two-step process of passport and visa from Tonga was considered a more appealing option for some reason (more likely to succeed? It doesn't seem to be quicker).

Other possibilities are that he simply wanted to spend the holiday period on holiday - which'd worry me slightly. Or Rovers and he maybe disagreed on whether a signing-on fee or wages should be paid before or after he got clearance, causing a delay. A simple delay on an Oz visa or the investigation into the alleged incompetent betting sting seem less likely, based on the little information available.

but the additional offshore payments are now taxable at 40%. That's why we'll see a massive drop in top aussies playing in SL over the next few years imo unless another loophole is found.