On his day, Johnny Thompson is one of the best all-round cricketers in Northern Ireland.

It is little surprise that the Brigade man has finally relented and agreed to make the move over the Glenshane ahead of the 2015 season because Lord knows he has had enough opportunities.

Several NCU clubs have tried to entice him during the past decade but it is obvious that events at Beechgrove now appear to have forced his hand.

The dogs in the street are barking that Brigade are in a period of transition and the uncertainty will have heavily influenced "JT's" decision to move on. His loss will be felt massively on Limavady Road- Thompson without doubt the one player who kept Brigade in the hunt for honours over the past couple of seasons when the top order struggled.

However while that may be the thoughts at Beechgrove, there is another concern simmering just below the surface throughout the North West in general.

The NCU 's recent decision to restrict the number of players from outside Northern Ireland that clubs can bring in rather conveniently excluded the North West. And while no-one will say it publicly it hasn't sat well in this quarter.

We have to be realistic and say that we can't judge the repercussions based soley on one player moving to the NCU because he has been a target for so long. The proof of the pudding however will be if there are any more to follow.

Johnny's signing brings the number of former North West players at CIYMS to too many. It could be argued that it would now be cheaper for the Belmont side to move down here.

Which brings us to a more serious side of the issue. Having worked their socks off over the past 2 years to build a local, competitive Interprovincial squad, Bobby Rao and his North West Warriors have now also been robbed of a key player.

I don't intend to get embroiled in a debate about the Northern Knights' selection policy at this point because I don't believe that anyone, including many NCU players understands it, however it is now incumbent on Cricket Ireland to stop Interprovincial movement becoming a fiasco.

This isn't a criticism levelled at CIYMS by the way. It is up to them how they spend their money and they only have eyes for their own club and not the Knights.

It doesn't change the fact however that once again it is the Warriors who have been hit by the player raid and it is now time that the issue is addressed. It shouldn't be difficult to do either- one potential solution would be a qualifying period as they have in Internationals.

You can't play for any Union, other than your first home Union, until you have played in the adopted region for a minimum of one full season.

A more likely scenario of course is that everyone will stand around looking at their feet and praying nobody notices but we live in hope.

Also this week we have had the news of Davy Caldwell's award from the ECB and Lexie Millar's retirement from the Derry Midweek League. Davy has had a big influence in my own involvement in NW cricket- he played a big part in my first ever senior cup final experience in 1974 and then put me through my International Umpires exam in 2001. He is a legend in umpiring circles and beyond and fully deserves his recognition from Lords.

And talking of legends there is nothing more you can say about Lexie. In my opinion he is the father figure of North West cricket and the tributes that we have recorded for him over the past few days bear testimony to that. Sincere best wishes to both of these gentlemen.

And finally to Friday's Cricket Ireland awards ceremony in Dublin on Friday. Decker Curry was awarded the Club Player of the Year after his phenomenal season at Ardmore while Craig Young won the Emerging Player trophy.

I was delighted to see Ryan Eagleson pick up the Team of the Year after Carrick's brilliant year. And I also got one myself which came as a major shock.

Having never won anything in my life I would have walked to Dublin (and very nearly had to) for the trophy which I fully admit could have gone to any one of 50 people.

Still though I was humbled to get the Volunteer award and would like to thank David and Andrew for the nomination and CI for the vote.

It was well worth the journey having spent the entire lunch discussing all things cricket with John Mooney who goes up in my estimation every time.

I also had an entertaining journey home having blagged a lift back with President, Joe Doherty.

The final word though to skipper William Porterfield who travelled by train and boat from Birmingham to be there. Ireland will want for nothing at the World Cup 2015 if it comes to a scrap.