Cowboys hit back after Gus spills the beans over rising star’s contract status

The Cowboys have spoken out after Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould leaked some bombshell signing news on his personal footy podcast.

The Cowboys have hit back at Gus' claim. Pic: Getty

Cowboys General Manager of Football Michael Luck has denied the claim from Bulldogs supremo Phil Gould that back rower Heilum Luki has triggered his one-year player option to stay in North Queensland until the end of the 2025 season.

Gould made the claim on his ‘Six Tackles with Gus’ podcast on Wednesday, stating that “Luki took up his option to stay” and that the Cowboys “didn’t think it was going to happen”.

“They’ve (Cowboys) had to make some salary cap decisions there,” Gould said.

“Heilum Luki, it was kind of expected he’d take a big offer to go elsewhere to the Dragons or Dolphins.

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“He had an option in his favour to stay with the club and has elected to stay. I don’t think they thought that was going to happen.

“That will put a lot of pressure on keeping Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, who is an outstanding young talent and probably on a much smaller contract than he can get somewhere else.

“They’d have to upgrade him to keep him, but they didn’t have that sort of money available, particularly after Heilum Luki took up his option to stay.”

Phil Gould. Picture: Julian Andrews

Luki has essentially been a free agent since November 1, with his current contract with the Cowboys ending at the conclusion of this season. As Gould alluded to, the 22-year-old has a player option for 2025 which he can trigger.

However, Luck says that the rising star has yet to make such a move and the Cowboys are still in the process of working on a deal for Luki.

“We are continuing to work through it with Heilum’s management,” Luck told The Courier Mail.

“He’s a priority signing for us and we’ll keep working through that process.”

The Cowboys farewelled troublesome forward Luciano Leilua last week, clearing $950,000 annually from the salary cap.

It’s expected North Queensland will use that coin to upgrade the contract of rep forward Reuben Cotter in addition to looking to extend Luki and another promising back rower in Kulikefu Finefeuiaki - both of whom who have attracted plenty of interest from rival clubs.

With Gould’s latest development, you’d have to wonder though if the Bulldogs were one of the clubs that had their sights set on Luki as well.

Heilum Luki (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

SHARKS ENFORCER’S SHOCK $2.2 MILLION REVEAL

Braden Hamlin-Uele has revealed he was only an hour away from signing a lucrative deal with the Warriors before he had a change of heart.

The barnstorming prop’s extension with the Sharks was announced last week after reports he’d received a $2.2 million, three-year deal to make the move back to Auckland.

According to the SMH, Hamlin-Uele was already looking for accommodation in the city he was born in and was calculating the costs of his move.

However, with a deadline set by the Warriors of Friday night, the 29-year-old turned down Andrew Webster’s advances at 10:30pm New Zealand time.

“We’re talking about half an hour to an hour before I was ready to sign – I thought I was gone,” he said.

“The figure from the Warriors was great, financially the deal was amazing, and the three years was great security.

“It got to 8.30pm, it was 10.30pm over there, and the Sharks came to my manager with the last offer and said, ‘We don’t want him to leave, here is our best offer’.

“It came down to thinking about happiness on and off the field, which was a decision I didn’t take lightly.

“I also didn’t want the Warriors to miss out on an opportunity to find someone else if they missed out on me.”

Speaking in a club statement, Hamlin-Uele also revealed an emotional moment helped him decide to remain in the Shire.

“I had this sort of realisation moment of having to look at the boys and tell them - if I was to leave - that I was leaving,” Hamlin-Uele said.

“I just broke down and cried and I knew just then that I’m meant to be a Cronulla Shark for as long as I can and I’m meant to be in the Shire.

“This club means everything to me, the boys mean everything to me.”

For now, Hamlin-Uele is focused on nursing a knee injury which could keep him sidelined for the opening rounds of the season.

He is also set to forge a scary front row partnership with Addin Fonua-Blake who will arrive at the Sharks in 2025, with Hamlin-Uele initially upset with his recruitment.

“But once I stopped asking myself why, I realised Addin was coming to a good forward pack, a good team, and he could add his own flavour to our attack, which got me excited,” he said.

“I’m actually friends with him; we were roomies together with the Junior Kiwis. When he signed, he actually reached out and said he was looking forward to partnering up with me again.”

Originally published as Cowboys hit back after Gus spills the beans over rising star’s contract status