NRL 2020: Blake Green signs with Bulldogs as Kieran Foran replacement
Just three weeks after joining the Newcastle Knights, Blake Green will have a new home in 2021 after a rival NRL club swooped in to sign the veteran, despite him suffering a serious knee injury.
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Bulldogs boss Andrew Hill is confident Blake Green can provide the club with experience and leadership despite the veteran half expected to miss at least the next six months after suffering a serious knee injury on Sunday.
Hill vowed to stand by Green after the club agreed to a one-year contract with the Newcastle five-eighth before he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament on Sunday. It is understood the deal is worth less than $300,000 with Green to replace the off-contract Kieran Foran next year.
“We were speaking with Kieran but it got to the point where we couldn’t get an opportunity to bridge the gap of what he wanted and where we were at,” Hill said.
“We started working on other options which included Blake. We were able to come to a quick conclusion with Blake and think he will be able to provide leadership, game management and mentor our young players.
“We are sad Kieran is going and appreciate everything he has done for the club but we are excited about Blake joining us.”
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Foran rejected the club’s one-year extension worth about $400,000 as he chased a multi-year deal. Foran’s rich $1.2 million a year contract ends this year.
The Bulldogs could only watch on and grimace when Green went down with the serious knee injury against the Cowboys on Sunday.
Hill has reached out to Green in recent days with the 33-year-old reaffirming his commitment to the Bulldogs.
“We are confident he can recover,” Hill said.
“We’re looking at somewhere between six and nine months depending on the outcome his surgery. It could’ve happened in round one and we’d lost him for the year.
“He is disappointed, sad for us and sorry but these things happen in rugby league. It’s done now and we just have to deal with what’s in front of us. He is a professional and we are still upbeat he will rehab well.”
The injury basically rules Green out of the entire pre-season at Belmore. The best-case scenario is that he will be fit in time for round one but that would fall within the seven month mark.
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Hill said Green’s arrival would provide critical leadership and direction for young halves Lachlan Lewis and Brandon Wakeham. The short-term deal also allows the Bulldogs to aggressively pursue a range of off-contract halves at the end of next year including youngsters Matt Burton, Tom Dearden and Jarome Luai.
Green is Trent Barrett’s first signing in a homecoming of some sorts for the ex-Eel, Storm, Shark and Warrior who played 18 games for the Bulldogs in 2010.
Green only featured in three games for the Knights after making a mid-season switch to join a record-equalling seventh club. His return to Canterbury means he will not become the first player to play for eight NRL clubs.
His impending arrival also puts to bed there was any issue between Green and Barrett for the way Green left the Sea Eagles after just one season to secure a rich deal at the Warriors. Green was to have faced his former club the Warriors on Saturday.
Canberra outside back Nick Cotric has been the major purchase for the Bulldogs heading into next year having added England prop Luke Thompson mid-season and re-signed the likes of Adam Elliott, Will Hopoate and Josh Jackson.
Originally published as NRL 2020: Blake Green signs with Bulldogs as Kieran Foran replacement