Locker Room: Canberra Raiders’ cut-price offer to save Adam Elliott’s NRL career

Senior players have backed their club’s cut-price lifeline for Adam Elliott, and the former Bulldog star must grab this final chance writes David Riccio.

The lifeline is thin but it still exists if Adam Elliott is willing to grab what is likely his last chance.

The discarded Canterbury forward could be a Raider within the next 72 hours. Canberra’s terms are simple: One slip-up and you’re gone.

And guess what? We’re not paying $400,000 a season either, like the Dogs were.

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The best news though? Elliott gets it.

Sometimes an athlete needs to hit rock-bottom to appreciate what they had.

Former Bulldog Adam Elliott is set to secure an NRL lifeline.

Elliott has told those closest to him if it were a race, it’s Canberra ahead of Wests Tigers, who have also shown interest in picking up the 26-year-old for the 2022 season.

In weighing up whether to sign Elliott on a deal for less than $200,000 next year, the Raiders board are prepared to back their principles that also saw them stand by Jack Wighton in court 18 months before he won the 2020 Dally M Medal.

The Raiders’ team culture is led by the playing group of senior figures that includes Jarrod Croker, Josh Papalii and Wighton. All three are supportive of Canberra signing Elliott, who reached a “mutual termination” of his Bulldogs contract last month.

After a series of off-field headlines, the final straw for the Dogs came after Elliott had been asked to leave a Gold Coast restaurant after allegedly being caught sharing a kiss with NRLW player Mille Boyle.

The incident wouldn’t make the list of top 100 rugby league scandals, but I agreed with Canterbury’s decision to sever ties with Elliott.

The Bulldogs are at a critical phase in their history after finishing no higher than 11th over the past five seasons.

Adam Elliott is likely on his last chance in the NRL after departing the Bulldogs. Picture: NRL Imagery

Attracting sponsors during a period of defeat is a relentless and, at times, fruitless mission for marketing and sponsorship teams at struggling footy clubs.

And for a club like the Bulldogs, clinging to every corporate sponsorship dollar they possibly can, another investigation by the NRL Integrity Unit does nothing for your brand.

Canterbury had run out of patience with Elliott.

The kicker, of course, is $400,000-plus freed up on their salary cap.

That’s where the Raiders have become interested.

Every player has a price and Elliott isn’t in a position of power.

The Raiders can’t be foolish either. They too must prevent another dip down the ladder following their 10th-placed finish this year.

Rugby league is a small pond. It only takes a phone call for a club to run a background check on a player.

Two of the toughest the game has seen, men of lofty standards in former Test forward David Furner and the head trainer of Canterbury for 37 years, up until last year, Gary Carden, have both made calls to the Raiders over the past week.

They have both backed Elliott to grab this final chance.

Former Raiders coach and current Bulldogs assistant David Furner has backed Adam Elliott to be a success in Canberra. Picture: NRL Photos

From a pure football point of view, Elliott is a good player.

In 18 games last season for the languishing Bulldogs, he produced 20 tackle busts, 18 offloads and just under 85 metres and 33 tackles per game.

He has the ability to play on the edge or in the middle and hailing from Tathra on the NSW South Coast, the question has to be asked, why did the Raiders miss Elliott as a junior, when effectively, he’s one of them?

There’s a spot for Elliott in a Raiders forward pack next year that will be without 2021 members Sia Soliola, Dunamis Lui, Siliva Havili and Ryan James.

There’s the smallest of lifelines dangling in front of Elliott.

He should take it.

Originally published as Locker Room: Canberra Raiders’ cut-price offer to save Adam Elliott’s NRL career