Market moves: NRL rivals tipped to snare Sharks back-rower
Cronulla had been keen to re-sign the off-contract forward but salary cap constraints prevented it, while the NRL careers of a Raiders star and Knights veteran could be over.
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The Warriors have emerged as the frontrunners to land off-contract Cronulla backrower Kurt Capewell.
Capewell had been linked to a move to the Knights but it now seems the 26-year-old could be on the move to New Zealand.
The Sharks were keen to keep Capewell but were unable to move any space in their salary cap to do so.
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Capewell’s mooted move across the ditch isn’t the only NRL signing news this week. Elsewhere:
* Newcastle prop James Gavet looks to have played his final NRL game with the 29-year-old close to agreeing to a deal to join an English Super League club.
Gavet was not presented by the Knights as a departing player when the club held its presentation this week. Those confirmed departures included Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Jamie Buhrer, Slade Griffin and Zac Woolford.
* Raiders star Jordan Rapana is almost certain to finish up in the NRL at season’s end. The Canberra winger is close to signing with the Robbie Deans-coached rugby union side Panasonic Wild Knights in Japan.
* The Bulldogs have extended Jeremy Marshall-King’s future by another 12 months keeping the hooker at the club until the end of 2021. Marshall-King was originally contracted until the end of next year.
“Jeremy is the sort of player that every club needs,” Bulldogs coach Dean Pay said.
“He has really embraced the hooker’s role and he has those qualities of toughness and determination that have really added to the side over the past two seasons.”
KNIGHTS HOPING TO STORM PREMIERSHIP
Newcastle’s new coaching staff will certainly have a Melbourne Storm feel about it next season.
Incoming coach Adam O’Brien was inducted as a Storm life member before joining the Roosters this year. He has appointed former Storm players Rory Kostjasyn and Eric Smith to his Knights staff as development coaches.
Kostjasyn was already part of the Knights’ set-up but Smith will arrive in the pre-season.
Smith has been the Storm’s pathways coach and coached the club’s under-20s. He is also coach of the Sunshine Coast Falcons, who this weekend are playing for a spot in the Queensland Cup grand final.
They will join David Furner and Willie Peters, who are O’Brien’s NRL assistants. The pair worked at South Sydney last year. Scott Dureau will head up the Knights’ junior development.
MILLARD TO EARN HIS TIGER STRIPES
Former Roosters, Dragons, Western Suburbs and South Sydney player Shane Millard is expected to join Michael Maguire’s Wests Tigers coaching staff next year.
Millard, who played one season for the Magpies in 1997, has been coaching South Sydney’s Canterbury Cup side this year, and they take on Wentworthville in Saturday’s qualifying final at Kogarah Jubilee.
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Originally published as Market moves: NRL rivals tipped to snare Sharks back-rower