ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA centre Mark Gasnier will this morning announce he will quit the Dragons to play rugby union in France despite an 11th-hour bid by club boss Peter Doust to keep him in the NRL - a proposal that received a general pasting from fellow officials yesterday.

The 26-year-old will end months of speculation by confirming at 11am at St George Leagues Club that he has signed a two-year deal with Stade Francais. It will only fuel debate about how to stop the game's newest threat, European rugby union. The most controversial idea so far - to allow players to play two codes in two continents, which came from Doust on Sunday - was largely met with disdain by a cross-section of the game's officials.

Two NRL coaches who have played around the calendar, Manly's Des Hasler and Parramatta's Michael Hagan, dismissed Doust's call.

"What happens if he gets injured?" said Hasler, who played with Manly and Hull FC in 1993. "How do you account for insurance? I know it's only rugby union, but it's the mental side of things. If he [Gasnier] comes back and has a couple of bad games, what are you blokes [the media] going to say? You'll be saying, 'How did they let him go over there?'

"It all comes back to bang for your buck. I don't know how you could play a whole season, State of Origin, Australia, semi-finals, then pack up and play four months of rugby, and then come back and play another full season back here. Come on, please."

Hagan, who had two stints with Halifax, added: "I don't think it's feasible to do that. They'll be physically and mentally fatigued. And what's your limit? How many are you prepared to let do that?"

Doust's fellow CEOs were similarly dismissive. Cronulla's Tony Zappia was the most vocal, calling the proposal "ridiculous" and a "waste of time".

"The training techniques and the way the game is played are completely different," Zappia said. "And the NRL contracts don't allow a player to play another code. Also, it creates the perception, true or not, that's there's a [salary cap] rort happening."

Gold Coast managing director Michael Searle said players could not on one hand complain about burnout and then on the other consider playing for effectively 12 months of the year. "It flies in the face of everything we've been talking about for three years, about player fatigue," he said. "We can't be held to ransom every time a player wants more coin. If he wants more coin, he goes. The next superstar's around the corner."

Canberra boss Don Furner and Penrith chief executive Michael Leary said injury and compensation issues would make the process unwieldy.

"If a player needs a knee reconstruction after being injured in the last game, how do you think the fans would react? Does the club get compensation?" Furner said.

Leary added: "What if a player does his knee playing rugby? … He might have a contract with a league club, but he couldn't expect that club to then pay him when he has suffered the injury playing union."

St George Illawarra winger Wendell Sailor last night was said to be the latest league player who might join a French rugby club. He was understood to be negotiating with Craig Gower's club, Bayonne.

Penrith winger Luke Rooney has signed with Toulon.

However, Ewen McKenzie, the coach of Paris club Stade Francais, said clubs in the region would not pillage the NRL. "I'm not chasing guys here that don't want to play rugby," McKenzie told 2UE. "Mark Gasnier made it quite clear to me four years ago that he had a very strong interest in the game."

Melbourne boss Brian Waldron was adamant the NRL should concentrate on increasing its revenue streams and put up with losing some players. "League's future is in its youth," he said. "It'll be sad to see Gasnier go, but it will mean St George Illawarra will have a sizeable amount of money to spend on other players coming through. We have to back our own product."

Player agents Allan Gainey and Steve Gillis said the dual code idea would not work. "The seasons overlap and neither … [club] is going to want to give up the part that overlaps," Gainey said.

Gillis said rugby clubs would not offer big money to players who were playing 12 months of the year.