NRL Market Watch: Corey Horsburgh commits to Canberra Raiders, Jordan McLean to finish career at Cowboys
The Dragons have locked down one of their forwards on a new deal amid interest from Super League clubs, while a former Kangaroos rep is set for an extension with the Cowboys. MARKET WATCH.
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Dragons lock Tom Eisenhuth has agreed to one-year extension with St George Illawarra, keeping him at the club until the end of next year.
Eisenhuth played every game for the Dragons in 2024 and is believed to want to finish his career at the club.
It is understood that Eisenhuth turned down multiple offers from the English Super League with the hopes of rounding out his career in the NRL.
-Tyson Jackson
COWBOY SET FOR EXTENSION
North Queensland have received another contract boost with premiership enforcer Jordan McLean to reject interest from rival clubs and finish his career at the Cowboys.
This masthead can reveal monster prop McLean is in the advanced stages of finalising a 12-month extension ahead of Saturday night’s finals blockbuster against the Knights in Townsville.
McLean signed a one-year deal with the Cowboys in the latter stages of last season and the 32-year-old is set to follow suit again to ensure he returns for a 13th campaign in 2025.
A veteran of 222 first-grade games, McLean won a premiership with Melbourne in 2017 before moving to the Cowboys, with whom he has overcome several injuries to enjoy seven largely successful seasons.
McLean had interest from Super League clubs but the former Australian Test front-rower is keen to remain at the Cowboys, who value his experience and mentoring for the club’s younger forwards.
The Cowboys recently completed a three-year upgrade for co-captain Reuben Cotter and they are moving to extend McLean, who will spearhead his side’s pack in the elimination final at Queensland Country Bank Stadium.
Cowboys football boss Micheal Luck confirmed the club is keen to keep McLean on their books for next season as North Queensland chase a second premiership.
“Jordan has been fantastic for us over the last few years,” Luck said.
“There is no doubt we are a more settled and balanced team when he is in our 17.
“We would love it if he continued on with the Cowboys.
“We will work with him over the next month to hopefully get a deal done.”
The extension could be formalised sooner than that, with McLean’s management keen to put pen to paper, possibly after the Cowboys’ finals opener against the Knights.
McLean has attracted criticism at times for being injury prone but the 196cm, 118kg man mountain has averaged 19 games per season at the Cowboys and plays his 21st this year on Saturday night.
The New South Welshman has averaged 112 metres and 22 tackles per game this season in North Queensland’s surge to the finals.
The Cowboys will lose 896 games of first-grade experience next season with the departures of Valentine Holmes, Kyle Feldt, Jake Granville and Chad Townsend.
While North Queensland are backing their posse of young guns to fill the void, Luck says McLean will be a valuable leader for the likes of Jeremiah Nanai, Cotter, Heilum Luki and rising prop Griffin Neame.
“We are losing a large chunk of experience in 2025 in Granville, Holmes, Townsend and Feldt, so we’re keen for Jordan to extend his playing career beyond 2024,” Luck said.
“He is ultra-professional in his approach to preparing and recovering from games.
“His experience in big matches is invaluable for the younger members of our squad.
“Middle forwards don’t often get a wrap for being involved in team preparation, but there would be few in the game with the attention to detail and input into our game-planning that ‘Macca’ has.”
-Peter Badel
RAIDERS ENFORCER RULES OUT BRONCOS MOVE
Brisbane’s hopes of adding fresh talent in the wake of their horror season have suffered a blow with Queensland Origin firebrand Corey Horsburgh ruling out a move to the Broncos.
As the Broncos launched their wide-ranging review on Monday, Horsburgh’s potential move to Red Hill has fallen through after ‘Big Red’ agreed to honour his existing deal at Canberra.
The Broncos have not signed a single player for next season and are under pressure to add some new blood to their roster after a stunning crash from grand finalists to 12th place this season.
Horsburgh shaped as one possible signing for the Broncos after recently falling out of favour at the Raiders.
That prompted the 2023 Queensland Origin debutant to fly to Brisbane a fortnight ago for preliminary talks with coach Kevin Walters and a tour of the Broncos’ $27 million high-performance centre.
Horsburgh had interest from the Wests Tigers, Dragons and Broncos and his preference was to join with Brisbane given his Queensland links as a Caboolture Snakes junior.
The 26-year-old visited the Tigers last week and gave the Dragons a glimpse of his ability when he scored the matchwinning try from a grubber kick to break the Red V’s hearts last Saturday at Kogarah.
There was a view Horsburgh could have been a handy support act in a Broncos forward pack that relies heavily on the workrate of Origin and Test duo Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan.
Brisbane sorely missed Dolphins defector Tom Flegler’s muscle in the middle this season and Horsburgh would have added an aggressive edge with his no-nonsense style.
But Horsburgh won’t be in Broncos colours next season after smoking the peace pipe with Canberra coach Ricky Stuart over the weekend.
The fiery one-game Maroons lock, who is contracted to Canberra until the end of the 2027 season, informed Wests Tigers boss Shane Richardson of his decision on Monday morning.
The Broncos were keen to sign Horsburgh, but never tabled a formal offer. Brisbane had salary-cap constraints which made it difficult to meet the forward’s current $550,000-a-season deal at the Raiders.
The Broncos were open to a potential subsidised deal but Canberra made it clear any future employer would have to buy out the entirety of his $1.7 million Canberra deal.
Horsburgh’s manager Jeff Jurotte told News Corp the hardworking forward was always prepared to stay at Canberra if he could not strike a deal at the Broncos or another club.
He dismissed talk of a feud with Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.
“Ricky and Don Furner (Raiders CEO) have been great, they’ve given us permission to look around and that’s what we’re doing at the moment,” Jurotte said a fortnight ago.
“Corey is a Queensland boy, so coming home always has that appeal and he could one day finish his career in Queensland, but in saying that there’s no issue with the Raiders.
“Corey has had a tough run with injuries at the Raiders and he had to lose a bit of weight.
“He has done that so we’ll go through the options and see what’s the best fit for Corey, but he’s more than happy to stay at Canberra.
“He gets on with Ricky. Sometimes you have robust discussions to be on the same page but Corey has great respect for Ricky.
“It was only a year ago that Corey was playing State of Origin so he still has plenty to offer.”
Horsburgh’s decision comes as the Broncos were linked to Melbourne’s former Queensland Origin prop Christian Welch.
The 30-year-old is contracted to the Storm until the end of 2026 and is viewed as an experienced prop who could deliver Melbourne-style standards to help mentor the Broncos’ young forwards.
-Peter Badel, Brent Read
Originally published as NRL Market Watch: Corey Horsburgh commits to Canberra Raiders, Jordan McLean to finish career at Cowboys
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