Sport Confidential: Newcastle’s Dylan Brown salary cap safeguard; NRL set to save struggling Super League
Newcastle’s $13 million offer to Dylan Brown includes mechanisms to ensure his potential signing doesn’t blow up their salary cap. Plus, NRL is set to swoop in and save Super League.
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Newcastle’s mind-blowing $13 million offer to Dylan Brown includes mechanisms to ensure his potential signing doesn’t blow up their salary cap.
Sport Confidential has been told that Brown’s proposed deal with the Knights will include a ratchet clause related to the salary cap, but there will also be limitations put on how high his salary can rise.
The clauses protect the club against bending their cap out of shape and also ensure that captain Kalyn Ponga remains the club’s highest paid player for the remainder of his contract, which ends at the end of 2027.
Ponga is on a deal believed to be worth up to $1.4 million a season. Brown’s offer is believed to be worth $1.3 million a season, although that figure will rise in line with increases in the cap over the term of the deal.
The Knights have spared no expense in their bid to sign Brown as they look to ease the pressure on Ponga and end their chopping and changing in the halves.
His future is expected to have ramifications for a host of clubs and could yet have an impact on the future of Wests Tigers superstar Lachlan Galvin, who has another year remaining on his deal with the club.
The Tigers are keen to speak to Galvin about an extension and a host of clubs are expected to monitor the situation given his rising status in the game.
As late as last week, Bulldogs head of football Phil Gould claimed on his weekly podcast that Galvin was the sort of player who could deliver premierships to clubs.
“I’m obsessed with him,” Gould said.
“I think in the future, whoever has Lachlan Galvin in their side will be winning premierships. I’m not even worried about putting wraps on the kid because he is probably the most exciting young playmaker I’ve seen coming through in a long time.”
Hence the Tigers desire to tie him down before he becomes available to speak to rival clubs when he enters the final year of his current deal on November 1.
Brown’s decision has the potential to dictate Galvin’s future. If Brown decides to move to Newcastle, the Eels could enter the race for Galvin given he shares the same management as Parramatta skipper Mitchell Moses.
Gould has already shown his hand by showering praise on Galvin. Likewise, Newcastle may weigh in with a bid for Galvin should they miss out on Brown.
SUPER LEAGUE SAVIOUR
A powerful cabal of Australian club bosses have held talks with their English counterparts over plans for the NRL to step in and save Super League.
Sport Confidential can reveal that the discussions have been going on behind closed doors for months and reached a crescendo in Las Vegas last week.
The talks are so advanced, it is understood that the next step is to take a proposal to the NRL for the game in Australia to take a majority stake in Super League and help the English game.
It shapes as a seminal moment for the game in the northern hemisphere, where Super League continues to battle instability and political in-fighting as clubs struggle to keep their heads above water.
The NRL and their clubs, meanwhile, are flushed with funds. According to their latest financial reports, the NRL has more than $300 million in assets and in excess of $200 million in cash.
While the ARL Commission has made a conscious effort to invest in assets to protect the game’s future in Australia, Super League continues to wither on the vine.
The NRL is understood to be concerned with the game in England, although also wary of the need to have Super League and their clubs on side before stepping up their involvement.
It is understood a final call could be only weeks away as NRL club bosses prepare to take a proposal to NRL hierarchy.
FLASHBACK
Daly Cherry-Evans broke the hearts of the Manly faithful on this day 10 years ago when he announced he would join the Titans on a four-year $4 million contract. “I want to thank the Titans for giving me the opportunity to come back to Queensland and contribute to a club that is no doubt on the way up,” Cherry-Evans said. Cherry-Evans would later backflip and recommitted to the Sea Eagles.
GREAT LAS VEGAS RACE
St George Illawarra and Canterbury remain the favourites to play in Las Vegas next year but the Cowboys and the Storm have emerged as the other leading candidates.
The Dragons and the Bulldogs are putting together the finishing touches on a proposal which will see them gate share in Las Vegas plus a return match in Sydney later in the season. While that match seems likely, the jostling for the other games continues. Melbourne have been close to going in recent years while North Queensland gives the day a much-needed Queensland component.
The Eels and the Knights are also keen to go although having three large Sydney fan bases in Parramatta, Canterbury and St George Illawarra all go in the same season is unlikely.
The Knights will also be a drawcard.
The NRL want to make a decision quicker than they did for this year’s games with planning already underway to lock in the 2026 teams.
RED V REVIVAL
A room full of heavy hitters from sport stars to high-flying business people came together to help launch an intimate but passionate support-led group to help St George Illawarra flourish.
The likes of Mark Taylor, Graham Richardson and Warren Livingstone were on-hand for the inaugural lunch at Woolloomooloo Bay on Thursday afternoon. They were joined by Dragons coach Shane Flanagan, chairman Andrew Lancaster and long-term board member Peter Doust.
The idea is the brain child of former Channel 9 and 2GB star Chris O’Keefe and Academy Brand founder Anthony Pitt – who are two of the most connected but ardent Dragons fans.
“This group is about unashamedly asserting the Dragons as the number one club in the NRL,” O’Keefe said. “It’s as simple as that. We have a huge number of powerful and successful people that are passionate Dragons supporters and we want to unlock their networks and talent to support the club and its players in every way.
“Businesses who partner with St George Illawarra will be guaranteed mutual success and our club can leverage these networks of this group however they need to.
“We have a great foundation to build from but we can take it to the next level. Anthony Pitt, Jason Nightingale, a club legend and commercial force in his own right and myself have a pretty simple vision for this; Not only do we want to win premierships, but we want to entrench the Dragons as a formidable and sustainable commercial force too.”
The group will act as a major networking opportunity for sponsors and mentorship for St George Illawarra players and staff.
“In business and politics no single person ever has all the answers, so leaning on expertise from all walks of life will only enhance the success of the Dragons,” O’Keefe said. “The chairman Andrew Lancaster has been instrumental in this and the board can certainly see the value of a group like this.”
THE WORLD IS YOURS, GEORGE
George Kambosos Jnr may not be fighting for a world title fight on March 22 but his bout against Daud Yordan has world title ramifications. Kambosos is preparing to fight in Sydney for the first time since 2016. Back then he was a fighter on the rise. Now he steps into the ring knowing there is a world title on the offer should he beat the Yordan, a former world champion.
Should Kambosos win then another blockbuster bout against undefeated IBF World Super Light Richardson Hitchins in New York in June or July is on offer. But first he has to get through Yordan who has 43 wins with 31 knockouts and just four losses.
“Obviously Hitchens and the carrot is dangling next,” Kambosos said.
“It’s there, it’s ready. “But without putting on a great performance, a great statement, in my 140 (pounds) debut against a guy like Yordan, that kind of diminishes everything I’m working towards.
“So a lot is at stake - a world title fight, becoming a two-division, seven-time world champion is at stake.
“Legacy is at stake, so I’m excited. Yordan is obviously dangerous. He will come to fight.”
Kambosos has jumped up weight since losing to Vasyl Lomachenko last May.
COOL COLE
Jack Cole concedes he is still learning how to deal with game day nerves. But the Panthers no.6 showed no signs of being overawed by the situation after playing a solid hand for Penrith during their win against Cronulla.
“I was pretty nervous,” Cole said. “I throughout the whole week I was pretty good but (on game day it) sort of hit me a little bit. I’m still learning how to deal with my nerves well.
“That was my 11th game in the top grade. I feel like the more games I play and the more minutes I get, I’ll be more conditioned to it as well and get a lot more confidence that will come with that.
“I’m not trying to be what Jarome (Luai) was. I like watching him play and trying to pick little bits of his game out and try put them into mine. At the end of the day, I’m just trying to get better as a player, better as a person and help the team out where I can.”
Nathan Cleary backed Cole to now keep his spot on his halves partner.
“It’s hard to not have him there after (Sunday’s) performance,” Cleary said. “He definitely did not do himself any harm with how he went and I think he’s only going to get better.”
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