Having been away for several weeks I have not had chance to trawl through this whole thread so dont scream if this has already been covered.
If Eastmond goes on a free at the end of the RL season (Oct 2011) he will probably not be ready to play Union until early 2012 at the most optimistic. So Bath or wherever will not get anything back for their investment probably till the start of the 2012/2013 Union season.
That would appear to be good grounds for a transfer now for all parties with suitable re-investment of said funds in the Saints squad in terms of Transfer fee and Eastmonds wages.
Again sorry if repeats.