Conspiracy rages over Matt Lodge’s mysterious, sudden NRL exit

The mystery surrounding Matt Lodge’s sudden exit from the NRL continues to fuel rumours about what exactly happened at the Warriors.

Matt Lodge is attracting controversy again. Picture: NRL Photos

Questions continue to be asked about Matt Lodge’s baffling payout after leaving the New Zealand Warriors.

Last week, Lodge stunned the NRL by abruptly quitting the Warriors because he wasn’t willing to move his family to New Zealand. The Warriors, who will return to New Zealand on a permanent basis next year after Covid complications, granted the 26-year-old forward an immediate release from his contract.

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There is confusion as to why the club has paid Lodge’s contract out, giving him a $700,000 parting gift, even though it was reportedly the player who made the choice to leave.

Speaking on SEN’s Vossy and Brandy on Thursday morning, Fox League commentator Andrew Voss said “it can only be they’ve paid to get rid of him”.

“There has to be more (to it),” Voss said.

“You can’t have a situation where the player has an option in their favour, declares they have no intention of living in New Zealand — therefore the option becomes irrelevant, it’s never going to come into play — and you still pay him for that.

“I just say, we need to do more digging here. Something is not lining up.”

Muddying the waters, Daily Telegraph journalist Michael Carayannis revealed the Warriors had previously offered Lodge a three-year contract extension, which he turned down.

Penrith legend Greg Alexander added “something doesn’t make sense”.

“So they were prepared to sign him for another three years. It wasn’t as if they wanted to get rid of him — they wanted him for another three years,” Alexander said.

Matt Lodge has left another NRL club. Photo: NRL Imagery

Speaking on Fox League’s NRL 360 on Wednesday, The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield revealed Warriors chief executive Cameron George refused to answer questions about Lodge’s hefty payout.

“It still remains a $700,000 question mark,” Rothfield said. “George won’t explain it to me … he’s hiding behind confidentiality clauses.

“There’s a lot of fans in New Zealand wanting to know why he got $700,000. It ruins their (salary) cap for the remainder of this year and next year.

“He has left the Warriors in desperate trouble.

“Those fans, those members, those sponsors deserve an explanation.”

NRL 360 co-host Paul Kent continued: “I think at the very least the Integrity Unit needs to look at it.

“Something has happened to make the Warriors feel obligated to release him and pay him out.”

“It does not make sense. And it appears that something has happened at the club rather than with Lodge.

“It looks like guilt money from the club and the Integrity Unit should be looking at it.”