NRL Market Watch: Manly’s bumper Reuben Garrick deal to stave off poachers
The Manly Sea Eagles have reacted to poaching raids on flyer Reuben Garrick by tabling a bumper deal. MARKET WATCH
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Manly have tabled flyer Reuben Garrick a bumper four-year deal which comes with a surprise positional switch.
The Sea Eagles will also flatly reject any bid for Garrick to be released early from his deal to join Newcastle next year.
The Sea Eagles have shown their intent in trying to make Garrick a key part of their long-term future as they try and starve off an approach from the Knights.
In doing so they will shift Garrick from wing to centre next season.
It is understood the Sea Eagles tabled the four year deal last week.
Manly boss Tony Mestrov confirmed Garrick was a priority re-signing.
“The club sees Reuben as a real leader,” Mestrov said. “We have a very good group of players that can vie for the top four year on year and we want him to be a leader in this group moving forward.
“He is a quality human being and a professional. From a cultural point he is also a very important player.”
Garrick has made it clear he wants to make a permanent shift away from the wing and play fullback. Newcastle will offer Garrick that chance which would lead to Kalyn Ponga moving to the halves.
While his opportunities to play fullback at Manly are limited to filling in for superstar Tom Trbojevic, the Sea Eagles plan on moving Garrick to the centres next season.
Garrick has only started one of his 91 top grade games at centre but will get first crack at the spot leaving the likes of Morgan Harper, Brad Parker and Tolutau Koula to battle it out for the other position.
He played 14 games at fullback this year in Trbojevic’s absence.
“We’ve offered him a strong four year deal which would match any offer the Knights give him,” Mestrov said. “He wants to play fullback and obviously with Tom at Manly he can’t do that.
“However our offer is with the intention of playing Garrick at centre. He will play in the centres. He played all his junior representative football at centre. He is also an amazing goal-kicker which adds to the need to keep him.”
When asked if the club would entertain a release Mestrov simply said: “We won’t be releasing him”.
The Sea Eagles are keen on securing Garrick before the November 1 free agency period opens on Tuesday.
Trbojevic is recovering well from a season-ending shoulder injury and will certainly be fit and ready for round one next season.
INJURY-HIT TIGER GETS NEW DEAL
— Fatima Kdouh
Tommy Talau did not play a single game in 2022 but the Wests Tigers have backed the youngster with a one-year extension.
The 22-year-old has been sidelined for over 12 months after he suffered an ACL injury in the final round of the 2021 season playing against Canterbury.
But the off-contract centre will remain at Concord until at least the end of 2023.
“The club has been so good to me and I want to repay that faith,” Talau said.
“It’s been a long, hard road for me, and we’ve all had to be patient with my comeback.
“I can’t wait to get back to full fitness, and doing what I love doing, and that’s playing footy.
“I have found it difficult to sit and watch for the past season but there’s now light at the end of the tunnel. I look forward to getting stuck into pre-season, and then back out there playing with my mates.”
Incoming assistant, and soon to be head coach, Benji Marshall has long been a fan of Talau’s talents.
“Tommy Talau has the most potential of any young kid I have seen since James Tedesco,” Marshall told The Daily Telegraph in late 2019.
“Yeah, (it’s a big call) but the potential is there and of course he has to fulfil it. But with the right work ethic, I think he’ll have a lot to offer this club.”
Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe commended Talau for the positive approach he has taken to on the road to recovery.
“We know how hard it’s been for Tommy these past 12-months or so, and I’ve admired his commitment,” Pascoe said.
“He’s stayed positive, continued to do all the daily rehab, not knowing when he might get back to playing.
“As hard as it’s been, he’s shown great strength of character, and we all want the best for him going forward.
“I know he’ll throw himself into pre-season in a couple of weeks and I’m sure the hard work will pay off.”
Talau has played 35 games since making his debut for the club in 2019, scoring 19 tries.
COWBOYS LAND DRAGONS DISCARD
— Travis Meyn
The Cowboys have bolstered their forward stocks by signing Dragons discard Jack Gosiewski for the 2023 season.
Gosiewski will head to Townsville after falling out-of-favour with St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffin.
Gosiewski revealed last week that withdrawing from a match following the birth of his first child put his NRL career at the Dragons on ice.
At 28 and with 56 NRL games for the Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles and Dragons, Gosiewski will add some experience to North Queensland’s forward pack.
He will join the Cowboys alongside Tigers veteran James Tamou, who is returning to North Queensland for a one-year swan song before he retires.
“We were in the market for an experienced back-rower, who could play in the middle if needed and Jack certainly fits that need,” Cowboys General Manager of Football Micheal Luck said.
“He will add significant depth to our forward pack and we expect him not only to compete for a spot, but also to push the players ahead of him.”
CONTROVERSIAL NRL STAR’S CAREER LIFELINE
— Travis Meyn and Peter Badel
Controversial Titans star Kevin Proctor has received a career lifeline and will join fellow Gold Coast forward Sam Lisone in England.
After contemplating retirement, Proctor will continue his career with Super League strugglers Wakefield Trinity after securing a two-year deal.
The former New Zealand Test star departed the Titans in controversial circumstances earlier this year.
Proctor, 33, was sent packing by the Titans in July after infamously filming himself vaping in the CommBank Stadium dressing room toilets during a game against Canterbury.
Proctor wasn’t playing at the time and was travelling with the Titans as a support player when he inexplicably filmed himself and posted it to Instagram with the caption “not the halftime vape”.
The Titans acted swiftly on their former captain, fining him $15,000 and essentially put him on gardening leave for the remainder of his contract.
Proctor was not sighted at the Gold Coast’s headquarters for the remainder of the year, with coach Justin Holbrook labelling his actions “dumb”.
The vape-gate scandal brought an end to Proctor’s 283-game NRL career which started at the Melbourne Storm in 2008.
He played 179 matches for the Storm and 104 for the Titans, who suspended him for four games and fined him $20,000 in 2018 following a cocaine scandal.
Instead of retiring, Proctor will finish his career in the Super League with Wakefield, who finished 10th in the 12-team competition this year.
Proctor will head to England with Titans prop Lisone, who has been released from his contract after falling out-of-favour this year.
“Slammin Sam” Lisone played 133 NRL games for the Warriors and Titans, but didn’t feature in the NRL after round 15 this year.
Lisone, 28, joined the Gold Coast in 2020 and the Titans extended his contract until the end of 2024 in October last year.
However he didn’t even make it to the start of the 2023 pre-season, with the Titans releasing him from the final two years of the deal to take up an offer from Leeds Rhinos.
The Rhinos lost this year’s grand final to St Helens and Lisone said he was excited to link up with coach Rohan Smith.
“I am excited to join up with the Rhinos,” he said.
“I have never been to England but I am keen to get over there. I have heard a lot of good stuff about the club and I can’t wait to get over and meet the fans.
“It is a new chapter for me and a fresh start, not just for playing but a new lifestyle, in a new country.
“Rohan and I had a very close relationship when he was at the Warriors and I worked closely with him and he helped me a lot with my game.
“I have always liked what he was about; the way he trains his teams. He gave me a call and, to be honest, we never stopped talking, when he told me there could be a position at Leeds for me, my heart was set on the move straight away.
“You only need to look at what he did at Leeds this year, taking the team into the grand final, to know how good he is.”
GOULD’S DESPERATE FIGHT TO KEEP BURTON
— Paul Crawley
If Phil Gould wants to lock up Matt Burton for the long term then the Bulldogs’ general manager better get ready to dig deep.
While most seem to be anticipating that Burton will end up staying at Canterbury to play under Cameron Ciraldo beyond 2023, it can be revealed rivals are still lining up to register their interest and make sure Burton is at least offered his market value.
And the fact is Burton will return from the World Cup in the coming weeks as rugby league’s next million dollar man in waiting.
Burton, 22, was on a reported $500,000 for this season but is tipped to command north of $1 million-a-season no matter where he signs to play in 2024.
It was speculated recently that the man with the biggest boot in the NRL was set to sign a four-year extension to stay at the Dogs worth $3 million ($750,000-a-season) — but that is well short of what Burton will realistically get.
In the wake of Cameron Munster recommitting to the Melbourne Storm, Burton has taken over top billing as the most wanted five-eighth still on the market for the 2024 NRL season.
That’s even ahead of the likes of South Sydney’s Cody Walker and Parramatta’s Dylan Brown who are also negotiating new deals.
It’s no secret that the Storm were ready to go after Burton if they didn’t secure Munster.
Naturally battling clubs like the Wests Tigers and Newcastle always get thrown up as possible destinations when players are looking to up their price.
But Burton is such an outrageously gifted talent that he would walk into pretty much any side in the comp, while still commanding top dollar even if he wanted to chase a premiership at one of the top clubs.
Burton’s agent David Riolo did not want to speculate about those possibilities but confirmed other clubs had already made their interest known.
Riolo was very careful not to disrespect the Bulldogs, and said at this stage he didn’t want it to become a distraction while Burton was in England on Australian duties.
“Matt is obviously overseas enjoying his first World Cup and as soon as he is back we will sort through it,” Riolo said.
“He is happy at the Dogs.
“He likes the new coach and he gets on with everyone there, so there is no issue for him at Canterbury.”
He would not go into detail about outside interest he had already received.
“I don’t want to speculate,” he said.
“Look, I understand there is a lot of interest and we will work through that.”
Asked if the deal was likely to be done before next season, Riolo added: “Generally with a player of his calibre and someone on the salary he is going to command those deals are done in good time because clubs need to know budgets.
“And if you have Matt Burton in your budget and you don’t get him, well, you have got a fair bit of money to spend, don’t you?
“So you can’t wait to the end of the year obviously because there won’t be any money left in people’s caps.
“He is a good kid. He is happy where he is.
“There is no reason why the Dogs won’t have a good shot at him.
“But it’s just he’s got to work through the process.”
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