The Manly Sea Eagles will pay Josh Schuster around $200,000 a year for the next three seasons as part of a deal that will see the back-rower’s contract mutually terminated as early as this week.
The Sea Eagles have been negotiating with Schuster’s agent Mario Tartak for several weeks and have held a meeting with the NRL salary cap team last week as they prepare to officially part ways with the utility player.
Sources with knowledge of discussions, talking under the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality reasons, said the Sea Eagles will wear $200,000 in their salary cap in each of the next three seasons and are on the verge of announcing a mutual termination that will allow Schuster to negotiate with rival NRL teams.
Zac Lomax this year agreed to a mutual termination of his deal at the Dragons for the next two seasons, but unlike Manly, the Dragons won’t have to include a pay-out in their salary cap.
The outside back agreed to walk away from $850,000 in 2025 and $875,000 in 2026 at the Dragons to join the Parramatta Eels on a new deal from next season until the end of 2028.
Schuster’s Manly deal is worth around $800,000 per season, but after dialogue with the NRL this week, it’s unlikely the Sea Eagles will have to carry the $600,000 differential in their salary cap.
Josh Schuster is free to leave the Sea Eagles.Credit: Getty
The Sea Eagles have already paid Schuster $400,000 since the November 1 start of the rugby league financial year and won’t have to pay him any more in 2024.
The Sea Eagles are trying to be sensitive during a delicate period in Schuster’s life as he addresses some personal issues away from the field.
It’s why they have brought the NRL and the Rugby League Players’ Association into the conversations.
Manly believe they have cause to breach Schuster over a series of performance-related issues and terminate his contract without pay, but they don’t want to be insensitive to the 22-year-old’s personal issues.
Tom Trbojevic and Manly were too good for Gold Coast on Saturday night.Credit: Getty
The Sea Eagles approached the NRL and explained they could go down the path of breaching him out of his deal, but did not believe that was the right way to deal with the matter.
It’s a similar predicament the Wests Tigers found themselves in with David Nofoaluma earlier in the year when they offered the veteran winger $300,000 to walk away from the final two years of his deal.
The Tigers believed they had grounds to terminate Nofoaluma’s contract after a series of breaches but instead offered him a settlement pay-out to avoid having to sack him given his services to the club over a long period and concerns over his wellbeing.
Nofoaluma, who is also managed by Tartak, was advised to accept the offer and left the club in January.
When Manly agreed to a three-year, $2.4 million extension of Schuster’s contract last year, they did so with the protection of a pre-season weight clause built into it, according to sources speaking on the condition of anonymity due to confidentiality.
Schuster managed to reach a career-low 112 kilograms over the summer. His conditioning then slowly began to deteriorate after suffering chickenpox before Christmas. That was followed by a broken finger that required surgery and a calf injury.
Manly subsequently left him out of their trip to Las Vegas and Schuster has struggled to get himself into the shape, mindset and form to win his way back into the NRL side. Schuster has now been granted personal leave and isn’t expected back at Manly again.
The other issue Schuster had was the faith – or lack thereof – of his teammates, who began to question his commitment to the team.
The form of back-rower Ben Trbojevic also made it an easier decision for Manly to part ways with the highly talented but inconsistent Schuster.
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