The prop has informed Hull that he feels the time has come to seek pastures new, take on a new challenge, have a change of scenery and, if they don't mind awfully, move on at the end of the season.

Unfortunately for Carvell, Hull do mind awfully, and not just because they have spent the best part of the last three months hammering out the terms of a deal which would have made him one of the club's highest-paid players.

A three-year contract worth a reputed £100,000 a season would have taken Carvell through to his benefit year, from which he could have expected to net a further six-figure sum given his standing in the city of Hull and his popularity within a sport which respects players who acquit themselves as well on and off the field as he has throughout his career.

It was a tempting offer, an offer which Carvell decided was too good to refuse and last week after training, just before he left for home, the 28-year-old scribbled his autograph at the bottom of the contract.

Had he decided otherwise, as disappointed as they may have felt, Hull would probably have wished the 28-year-old all the best in the last big move of his career. Instead, Hull officials slept soundly in their beds knowing they had secured the services of a player who would form the cornerstone of their pack for the duration of their inaugural Super League licence.

Or so they thought.

Because the next morning, as Hull continued their team-building plans for 2009 and beyond, Carvell dropped the bombshell that he had had a change of heart and wanted away.

Just what – or who – had got to him overnight remains something of a mystery, but all of a sudden the integrity of a player who is one of the most decent and likeable characters in Super League has been called into question.

Carvell's team-mates believed – and many still believe – that he is happy at Hull and was looking forward to helping put the club's troubles in 2008 behind them.

For all the monotony of the daily commute to Hull from his home in Leeds, Carvell had given every indication of being content at a club who stand just 80 minutes away from the club's first appearance at Wembley since 1985.

Victory over Wakefield in three weeks will secure them a place in the Challenge Cup final, the club's third major final in the last four years.

Where else, apart from
St Helens, could Carvell hope to emulate or better that record? Without being disrespectful to either club, it is hard to see either Bradford or Wigan challenging the supremacy of Saints and Leeds over the next three years. And even more difficult to imagine any club being prepared to stump up the £400,000 contract needed to better the deal he has struck with Hull.

As good a player as Carvell is, a contract of that magnitude would make him more expensive than the majority of the current England team. Carvell, and those close to him, may feel he is worth it, but £130,000 a year for a 28-year-old forward who has been capped just twice by Great Britain? The numbers just don't stack up.

Hull are still hurting from the actions of one player who stuck two fingers up to both them and contract law and ill-deserve to be treated in this way again. Similarly, Garreth Carvell does not deserve to be classified as yet another of rugby league's moral bankrupts.

Fortunately for Carvell there is still time for him to do the decent thing by disregarding how green the grass may be elsewhere, honouring his contract and remaining a hero where the playing surface is white with clover.