Roosters half Sam Walker looks increasingly likely to go to the NRL open market on November 1.
So might champion Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary, the bedrock of four premierships for the Panthers.
His co-captain Isaah Yeo looks like he’ll stay with the Panthers – thanks to teammate Brian To’o heading to the PNG Chiefs from 2028. To’o leaving opened the salary-cap door for Yeo to stay.
Bulldog Jacob Preston loves the club and wants to stay. But only for the right price. So he’s headed to the open market.
Hudson Young wants to see what the Chiefs can offer him. Or the Perth Bears. You can add him to the November 1 club, despite what the Raiders have thrown at him.
His teammate “Big Red” Corey “Hot Dog” Horsburgh, so much larger than life he needs not one but two nicknames, is off coach Ricky “Sticky” Stuart.
So he’ll end up at the Perth Bears. Unless, that is, he ends up somewhere else. No matter where he goes, it will probably be good for Red Dog (a third nickname) and Sticky. They can get out of each other’s faces before it ends badly.
Parramatta stalwart Junior Paulo priced himself out of the Perth Bears, apparently, so he might be stuck with the Eels.
Jayden Brailey is bailing from the Raiders and will join the Wests Tigers.
Matt Lodge will risk a 24-hour flight, which he has been poor at negotiating through his career, to join Leeds in the English Super League for the rest of the season, leaving immediately with the Cowboys on the cusp of the NRL finals.
Roosters pivot Daly Cherry-Evans is headed there, too – he’ll finish his career on the edge of 40 years of age in the salubrious surrounds of Hull in the north of England, where the average winter daytime temperature is 7 degrees.
All of this happened in the player movement market over the past couple of days.
The warning for league fans is: get used to it.
Apart from the Super League madness of the mid-1990s, the player market has never been more volatile.
What’s driving it? Money, a lot of money, and the addition of two, and probably three, teams.
Complicating matters are the tax-free dollars one of those teams – the Chiefs in Port Moresby – can offer. “That’s Monopoly money,” one player recruitment manager said.
For instance, if the Chiefs offered Cleary $2 million tax-free, the Panthers would have to offer $3.7 million to match the take-home pay. Of course, there will be other considerations when he decides, but there is no way clubs can match the Chiefs’ taxpayer-funded player grab.
Then there’s the $5.3 billion broadcast deal from 2028 to 2034. The game has never seen money like it.
And players aren’t stupid. They know the salary cap is about to rise significantly.
The cap sits at $11.55 million per team a season. Players have every right to know what the cap will be once the new deal starts, and they deserve a bigger slice of the pie.
Many people have asked: “why would Nathan Cleary not want to be a one-club legend and just sign with Penrith?”
There were comments on social media from fans critical of Walker for not signing an extension at the Roosters worth about $1.4 million a season.
Think about it. Why would they sign? Why not wait until November 1 to see what happens?
Waiting doesn’t mean you are disloyal. It means you are curious about your value.
Just as the game itself was curious about its true value when it played the broadcasters off against each other to squeeze every last dollar out of them.
Then there’s the fact the NRL created the teams. It’s not the player’s fault they have a lot more options. The options are there because the game wants more revenue.
The players are the game’s greatest asset and should be rewarded as handsomely as the game can afford.
A common misnomer is that not all players and their agents are driven by money. But every deal comes down to money.
How much of a haircut is a player willing to take to stay in a premiership-winning squad? How much of a trim are they willing to take for lifestyle reasons?
Those decisions are easier earlier in a career. But when the career is fading – as it is for Jarome Luai, To’o and Alex Johnston, for instance – it’s time to cash in on that last big contract.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson wasn’t happy when news “leaked” of Walker’s reluctance to sign an extension, and that he would test the market.
Robinson publicly called out his management.
The Roosters are a big, well-organised and brilliantly run club. Players want to play there. Invariably the club gets its way.
But with $5 billion floating around and the existing clubs desperate as they fight off raids from equally desperate newcomers, even the Roosters’ reputation as a coveted destination is under siege.
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Neil Breen is the national sports editor and a Walkley Award-winning journalist.Connect via X.From our partners
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