Jahrome Hughes signs four-year contract extension with Melbourne Storm
The Melbourne Storm are hopeful a host of their biggest stars will also recommit to the club, after Dally M winner Jahrome Hughes chose to remain loyal, as rivals circle.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Melbourne officials are optimistic that Jahrome Hughes will be the first of many to commit their future to the Storm before November 1 as they prepare to escalate negotiations with captain Harry Grant and distance themselves from talk that they could release Cameron Munster to the Perth Bears.
The Storm confirmed on Tuesday morning that Hughes had become the first of their immediate targets to ink a four-year extension to his current deal, tying him to the club until the end of 2030.
The extension is believed to be worth in excess of $4 million and heads off potential interest from expansion clubs Perth and PNG, as well as the Storm’s existing premiership rivals.
Hughes could have gone to market and launched a bidding war but opted to stay loyal to Melbourne, where his family is settled and he knows he can compete for premierships.
Storm officials are hopeful that Grant will quickly follow suit along with the likes of Ryan Papenhuyzen and Xavier Coates as they look to ensure the club remains a title force for the foreseeable future.
Grant, as club captain and the incumbent Queensland and Australian hooker, shapes as the most important given his standing at the club and within the game.
He would command big dollars on the open market but the sense is that he has no desire to leave. The Storm don’t want to take any chances as they look to step up talks with him and his management in coming weeks.
There is optimism that the club can get a deal done with Grant before the finals. Papenhuyzen may be a more difficult proposition given rebel rugby union competition R360 is believed to be circling both he and forward Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
Asofa-Solomona has at least two years remaining on a big-money deal but has a background in rugby union and it is understood he is on the radar of R360, amid talk that he and Papenhuyzen met with officials from the breakaway competition over the weekend.
“It’s always been a priority to bed down our good players that are coming off contract at the end of 2026,” Storm majority owner and chair Matt Tripp said.
“We want to get that done in advance of November 1. Paps is just as important (as Grant). Xavier is important. There’s a whole bunch of them in the category that we are working on.”
Nick Meaney, Will Warbrick, Shawn Blore and Tyran Wishart – who will replace the injured Hughes in the halves on Thursday night against Parramatta – are also off contract at the end of next season and therefore able to begin talks with rival clubs on November 1.
The Storm’s salary cap will be under strain. The wildcard in saga is Munster, who is contracted until the end of 2027 but is believed to be at the top of the Perth bears’ wishlist.
The Bears, who enter the competition in 2027, are unable to speak to any players until November 1 but that hasn’t stopped the rumour mill suggesting Munster could be a priority target.
The Queensland captain could become the highest paid player in the game should he move to Perth but that would likely require the Storm releasing him from the final year of his deal to join the Bears for their inaugural season.
Tripp insisted it hadn’t been contemplated by the club.
“No-one has approached me about it,” Tripp said.
Tripp conceded, however, it would be difficult for the club to keep everyone.
“It’s going to be tough – we’re under no illusions,” Tripp said.
“I wouldn’t blame some of them for keeping their options open. It’s not going to be easy to keep them all. As Jahrome said, we’re in a window where we can do some good things provided we stay together and stay tight.”
DONE DEAL: DALLY M STAR SIGNS MONSTER STORM EXTENSION
Melbourne star Jahrome Hughes is going nowhere.
Not to Perth, not to Papua New Guinea and certainly not to another NRL club.
Hughes, the reigning Dally M Medal winner, didn’t even bother testing the open market, even though he could have sparked a bidding war that would have made him the highest-paid player in the game.
His decision to stay in Melbourne until the end of 2030 wasn’t about money, although he will be well paid given his four-year extension is likely to be worth well north of $4 million.
It was about the two things Hughes cherishes above all others – family and winning. Hughes and his wife Molly are expecting their first child later this year and Melbourne is now their home.
It is also the place where Hughes, who is sidelined with a dislocated shoulder he suffered last weekend against the Sydney Roosters, believes he has the best chance to add to his premiership tally.
“It’s a good result for me,” Hughes said. “I guess it was just getting the right things in place and the club had to want me for that long and see me as the future of the club.
“So stoked to be able to sort it now. It is still so early …. but I was sort of already feeling a bit of pressure.
“I’m grateful for what I do have. Even just looking at my journey of how I came into the NRL, I never thought I’d be a halfback.
“I have won a premiership and was lucky enough to win a Dally M last year. I never thought I’d be able to do those things.
“I am very grateful to be where I am. So just to show them a bit of loyalty as well was always something that was in the back of my mind.”
CHASING MONEY
Hughes arrived in Melbourne as a fullback having played one game apiece at North Queensland and the Gold Coast.
He is now one of the elite No.7s in the game, his rise to greatness capped last year when he was crowned the best player in the NRL.
Quality playmakers are coveted and Hughes could have had his pick of clubs, particularly with expansion on the horizon. Rather than chase dollars, he chose loyalty.
“For me, it’s never really been about money,” he said.
“I think the thing for me is just where I’m going to be happy. Myself and my wife, we are having a kid at the end of the year.
“You don’t want to be going somewhere for money and not enjoying your life. It was the value of my happiness and my family’s happiness.
“You look at the football side of things, the dream is to chase premierships and I think Melbourne’s in a good window for that and has always been ever since I’ve been here, and even before I came here. I looked at those sorts of things as factors in the contract.”
Hughes also thought about Molly and where his young family would be happiest.
“She’s found a really good support base down here now and she’s got really tight friends,” Hughes said.
“If she wanted to go back home, I probably wouldn’t have signed the contract. For her, giving the nod and saying she’s happy and really loving her time here and loves how the Storm looks after her as well, that was a big one for us.”
THE INJURY
Hughes’s season flashed before his eyes last week when his shoulder popped out against the Roosters.
Storm medical staff struggled to put the shoulder back in place and he was rushed to hospital, where he had scans that determined he was a chance to return this season. The plan is for Hughes to spend the next six weeks rehabilitating his shoulder in a bid to be back for the finals.
“It was pretty painful,” he said. “I have dislocated a shoulder before but this one, it felt like it was just in a weird spot and they couldn’t get it back in.
“They were giving it a good yank. There were a few people holding each limb and having a tussle with it, and it was being stubborn.
“Thankfully it ended up getting back in not too long after I got to the hospital. They put me to sleep and were able to yank it back into place.”
Hughes is confident he will be fit to take part in the club’s finals campaign but he is also cognisant that there are no certainties with an injury like this.
On Sunday he was watching Manly’s loss to the Bulldogs and Haumole Olakau’atu’s shoulder popped out.
“It didn’t look like much either, which is concerning,’’ Hughes said. “I’m going to give it the best shot I can.
“Hopefully I can just rehab and get the strength back, get the range back and then hopefully be back.”
KEEP BAND TOGETHER
Hughes is the first piece of the Storm salary cap puzzle to fall into place.
The club has some of its biggest names off contract at the end of next season, which means they can talk to rival clubs from November 1.
Harry Grant is expected to be the next cab off the rank and the club has also opened talks with Ryan Papenhuyzen and Xavier Coates. Rumours also continue to circle five-eighth Cameron Munster, who is off contract at the end of 2027 but has been linked with Perth.
“We’d love to keep everyone together as much as we can,” Hughes said. “You can’t always do that these days with the salary cap. I’ll be in those guys’ ears to stick around.”
Late to training, 0-4: Raiders falling standards expose big NRLW issue
The Raiders’ NRLW season is in free fall after four rounds, prompting a savage spray from their coach. But it highlights an issue in the women’s game no one is talking about.
Shut your mouth: Time for NRL stars to stop bullying referees
Every week NRL stars are deliberately placing pressure on referees by arguing decisions, complaining about rulings and demanding penalties … and its trickling down to junior rugby league matches, writes DEAN RITCHIE.