NRL 2024 Market Watch: Eels young gun Ethan Sanders agrees to join Raiders at the end of the season
The Raiders have finally won the battle for teenage sensation Ethan Sanders who informed Parramatta he planned to leave the club at the end of the season.
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Ethan Sanders, who will make his NRL debut for the Eels in round 8, informed Parramatta he planned to leave at the end of the year.
This masthead understands Sanders has agreed to terms to join Canberra, leaving Parramatta with 10 days to convince him to remain at the club.
The news comes after the 19-year-old became the centre of a fierce tug-of-war between the clubs.
The NRL revamped its contract policy in the off-season meaning players who were off-contract but yet to play five senior games – NSW/Queensland Cup or NRL – were unable to talk with rival clubs until the end of round six.
Sanders became a free agent last week after playing six games in Parramatta’s NSW Cup side.
STORM, HUGHES IN TALKS
Melbourne have opened negotiations to keep Jahrome Hughes at the Storm for life amid speculation linking the champion halfback with a shock return to his former club the Titans.
This masthead can reveal Hughes’ management has kicked off preliminary talks to keep the Kiwi Test star at Melbourne for the rest of his career and scupper a potential poaching bid from NRL rivals such as the Gold Coast.
Speculation sweeping league circles on Monday suggested the Titans could make a big-money play for Hughes to solve their scrumbase woes at halfback.
The embattled Titans are last after seven rounds with a 0-6 record and young halfback Tanah Boyd is struggling to take control of the team in the No.7 jumper, raising the prospect of Hughes becoming a target.
Hughes made his NRL debut for the Titans as a teenager in 2013 and there were suggestions the Storm premiership winner could look to return home to the Gold Coast for family reasons.
“I’m hearing rumblings that one superstar in the game wants to come home to Queensland and be with the family,” former Broncos skipper Corey Parker said on SEN Radio on Monday.
“That player is Jahrome Hughes. I know his wife is from the Gold Coast and at this stage, it’s just rumblings that I’m hearing.
“It remains to be seen if it’s before his term of contract or not, but watch this space.
“We’ll just see what happens or unfolds in this space moving forward.”
Hughes has been with Melbourne since 2017 and was appointed vice-captain alongside Cameron Munster for the 2024 season.
While the Storm have a ready-made replacement waiting in the wings in Jonah Pezet, Hughes – now 29 and under contract until the end of 2026 – brushed off the Titans links.
“That is just rumours, I don’t know what they are talking about,” Hughes said.
“A few boys have said something to me and I don’t know what they are talking about. Obviously I was up there before I started my NRL career – played with the Gold Coast Titans up there.
“This feels like home now. This is my home at the moment. My mum and my sisters live down here as well. So that makes it a bit more homely. Obviously my wife is from Queensland but she is loving it down here at the moment as well.
“This is home for us.”
Hughes’ agent Tas Bartlett of PSM confirmed he was in discussions with Melbourne chiefs to extend the premiership playmaker.
A beefed-up, three-year Melbourne deal could see Hughes remain until the end of 2029, with the possibility of a fourth season in 2030, by which time the halfback would be 35.
“I’ve begun preliminary discussions with Melbourne with a view to making Jahrome a Storm player for life,” Bartlett said.
“His current deal runs out when Jahrome is 31 and the way he is going, he can go well beyond that.
“Daly Cherry-Evans will be 36 next year and Adam Reynolds will be 35 next year playing for the Broncos. Shaun Johnson is 33 and they are among our best playmakers in the game.
“We will look at possibly doing another three years with an option for a fourth year.
“Jahrome has no interest in leaving the Storm.”
Bartlett was stunned by speculation linking Hughes with a Titans resurrection.
“I understand great playmakers are hard to come by and Jahrome has become one of the elite halfbacks in the NRL,” he said.
“But we’ve had no approach from the Titans. I don’t know where they have come from and from the outside looking in, it would make sense for the Titans to chase a guy of Jahrome’s quality.
“Jahrome is a loyal guy and he can’t be happier with life at the Storm.
“He loves the city and he loves the playing staff, so we’ll keep talking with Melbourne on what the situation looks like beyond his current deal.
“Jahrome has no appetite to leave, so our priority now is to extend him and hopefully he finishes his career with the Storm.”
Unsigned Johnson wants to link up with star prop
-Fatima Kdouh
New Zealand coach Andrew Webster has conceded Shaun Johnson will need to be rested at some stage, as the unsigned star halfback opened up about his future at the club.
Johnson has been managing a painful Achilles injury, which forced him from the field with three minutes left on the clock in Friday night’s loss to St George Illawarra.
But Webster is hopeful Johnson can line-up against the Gold Coast Titans despite revealing the 33-year old did not train on Monday and has been on a lighter workload as he nurses the niggling injury.
“He hasn’t trained much at all in the last couple of weeks and he didn’t train again today, but we’ve got every confidence he’ll be right for the weekend,” Webster said.
“I’m trying to not play it down … he has been very, very sore.”
The coach could be tempted to rest Johnson this weekend given the Warriors come-up against cellar-dwellers the Titans on Thursday night.
But Webster was reluctant to confirm exactly when he will leave Johnson out of the side.
“I’m signing a little waiver right now, that I’m not disrespecting the other team if we give him a rest that week. I hope you guys play that if I ever do. If that does happen, it’ll be just because it’s time. We’ve had enough. We’ve got to move on and give him a break,” Webster said.
“But we might not have to. We’ll just play that by ear.
“I think he’s been really brave. I think Shaun’s been incredibly tough and done a great job. He wants to win so bad, he’s willing to do whatever it takes.”
Johnson played down the injury on Monday afternoon.
“It’s my left one (Achilles). It’s just something that we’ve got to manage, but ultimately, the goal is to play on as much as I can,” Johnson said.
“No one in the comp is 100%. I’m not the only one out there nursing something.
“It’s a little old age, like anyone when you pick up something niggly you have to manage it.
Johnson, who is off-contract and is yet to be offered an extension by the Warriors, was as coy as his coach about when he would be given a spell on the sideline.
“I’ll take that, it’s like paid leave,” Johnson joked.
“There are other players in the club that have taken it for a ride long enough. Maybe I have a week off here and there, I will be able to play on next year.”
Johnson met with his management on Monday afternoon after revealing the Warriors are yet to offer an extension beyond 2024.
Webster has indicated a strong desire to retain Johnson beyond this year.
The club’s signing coup of three-time premiership winner James Fisher-Harris on a four-year deal from 2025 last week could help sway Johnson’s decision.
“That’s certainly something to celebrate and want to play on for,” Johnson revealed.
“I’m taking it week by week. For me to make that decision to play on, I’ve got to actually receive a contract offer, and that hasn’t happened yet.
“But I am certainly starting those conversations with the right people, catching up with my manager today.”
While Johnson is sorting out his future off the field, the opportunity for Webster to rest Johnson could also hinge on the Warriors’ burgeoning casualty ward.
Webster confirmed that playmaker Chanel Harris-Tavita, who would be an option to replace Johnson if rested, is out for up to four weeks after picking up a leg injury last week during training.
“Chanel is going to be (out for) three to four weeks. We are hoping (he’ll be back) against the Roosters in Sydney,” Webster said.
While, rising playmaker Luke Metcalf is out long term with a broken leg.
In a boost for the Warriors, utility Dylan Walker is expected to be available this weekend after overcoming an ankle injury.
“Walks will play hopefully, he has just got to get through one more session,” Webster said.
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Originally published as NRL 2024 Market Watch: Eels young gun Ethan Sanders agrees to join Raiders at the end of the season
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