Sport Confidential: Roosters, Broncos battle for Fletcher Baker; Bronson Xerri’s Bulldogs start date
One of the NRL’s rising stars has attracted the interest of rival clubs, with Brisbane the latest to join the queue. Plus, Wests Tigers, Bulldogs and Manly signing news in Sport Confidential.
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The Broncos have joined the race to sign rising star Fletcher Baker as the Roosters battle to keep the 23-year-old at the club.
Baker is off-contract at season’s end and has already attracted the interested of a handful of rivals with Brisbane the latest club to express an interest.
The Roosters are keen to retain Baker but are navigating through their salary cap situation. The impressive prop has been a mainstay for the Roosters in recent seasons and featured in the opening five games for the club.
He missed last week’s loss to the Sharks because of concussion and is again unavailable for their clash against the Dragons on Tuesday.
The Roosters have a host of players off-contract at the end of the season. Aside from Baker the likes of Billy Smith, Connor Watson, Corey Allan, Drew Hutchinson, Jake Turpin, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jaxson Paulo and Matt Lodge are all free agents. So too is new recruit Nathan Brown who returned to the field in NSW Cup last weekend.
XERRI’S BOMBSHELL NRL RETURN REVEALED
Bronson Xerri has been given a firm date for his comeback.
Xerri, suspended for four years by Sport Integrity Australia and the NRL after returning a positive test to a cocktail of drugs, will be allowed to resume training with Canterbury on September 24 - two months before his ban is due to officially end.
Sport Confidential understands that Xerri was notified of his return date by the NRL in the past week. It means the 22-year-old finally has some certainty around his future as he prepares to make his return with the Bulldogs, having agreed to join the club for the 2024 and 2025 seasons.
Xerri was one of the rising stars in rugby league before his career was placed in jeopardy when he failed a drug test in November 2019. He was provisionally suspended in May 2020 before he was formally handed a four year ban in March 2021, which was backdated to the date of his initial test.
Having struck a deal to make his comeback with the Dogs, Xerri now has confirmation of when he will be able join his new teammates under the roof at Belmore Sports Ground.
“I’m going to come back and prove everyone wrong,” he said in January. “My journey has been an up-and-down roller coaster. “I would love to come back and make every rep team possible. I want to win a premiership.”
The way things are tracking, he will likely start his pre-season training alone - the Bulldogs will be on holidays in September unless they qualify for the finals.
Under Sport Integrity Australia guidelines, banned athletes are allowed to resume training two months before their ban is due to end.
SIA guidelines also deem suspended athletes are not allowed to train with other athletes. However, Xerri is allowed to spend time with athletes or support personnel for social reasons during events which are not sports related - he can go to the pub with his future teammates.
The rules also state that he is subject to testing while sanctioned.
WESTS TIGERS LOCK-IN BOOM ROOKIE
Finally, some good news for the Wests Tigers. Exciting young fullback Jahream Bula is set to make his first grade debut against Manly on Sunday and he will do so with a new contract in his back pocket.
Sport Confidential can reveal that Bula will be upgraded from the development list to a top 30 for the remainder of this season. The Tigers are also in the throes of negotiating an extension to his existing deal that will result in him staying at the club until the end of 2025.
Bula has come from the clouds to grab the Tigers No.1 jersey. Less than three years ago, he wasn’t even playing rugby league after turning his back on the sport to try and crack it as a basketball player.
He appeared on the Tigers radar at the start of last year after recruitment boss Warren McDonnell found out the former Keebra Park student was itching for a return to rugby league.
He spent last season starring in Jersey Flegg with the Tigers and made an enormous impression on coach Tim Sheens in the pre-season.
Sheens predicted at one point that Bula could leapfrog Daine Laurie and Charlie Staines to secure the No.1 jersey and that day has now arrived as Bula prepares to make his first grade debut against Manly on Sunday.
ROOSTERS’ HAND IN BUNNIES’ WIGHTON CHASE
If the Rabbitohs land Jack Wighton they will have arch-rivals the Roosters to thank for it.
In a bizarre twist to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Wighton’s future, the Rabbitohs have emerged as a surprise frontrunner for the Canberra star’s services in recent days.
South Sydney have kick-started discussions with Wighton’s management and despite coach Jason Demetriou saying on Wednesday that it would be tough to squeeze him under their cap next year, the Rabbioths are sitting on a little nest egg largely thanks to the Roosters and some of their other rivals.
The Rabbitohs’ interest raised eyebrows regarding how exactly they would be able to afford the World Cup-winning Kangaroos star.
However, it is understood they have plenty of room to spare in their cap after the NRL opted to scrap plans for match payments from this season and instead roll that money straight into the salary cap as part of the collective-bargaining agreement.
The players union and some clubs were pushing for players to be paid as much as $1500 for every appearance in the NRL from this season. It would have meant every player in the top 30 sharing the additional wealth.
However, the NRL decided to scrap the match payments plan and instead directly increased the cap for this season and beyond at the behest of some clubs — the Roosters are understood to be one of the clubs who wanted to end the match payment plan.
When the cap was increased beyond what many had expected, it gave Souths the wriggle room to make a play for Wighton.
Wighton will use Canberra’s bye period this week to meet with South Sydney officials with a deal potentially completed by the end of the weekend.
South Sydney will offer Wighton a four-year deal which will average out at about $900,000 a season. That is still about $1 million less than what the Raiders have offered while the Dolphins are expected to come in with the richest deal of them all.
Wighton would earn about $800,000 in his first two years at South Sydney but that number could jump significantly in 2026 and 2027 because the Rabbitohs expect Cody Walker and Damien Cook to retire when their deals expire at the end of 2025.
The Rabbitohs are strictly looking at Wighton as a centre – particularly in his first two seasons at the club.
Young gun Isaiah Tass has another 12 months to go on his deal and has established himself as a first grade centre.
The Rabbitohs’ pitch to Wighton includes playing alongside Walker and Latrell Mitchell and joining a club which has a heavy focus on its Indigenous foundations.
Rabbitohs skipper Cameron Murray took to Instagram this week to congratulate Wighton on his representative career after the Raiders five-eighth made the shock decision to step away from higher honours.
DOGS LOCK PRESTON IN KENNEL
Canterbury are poised to re-sign rising star Jacob Preston to a new long-term deal.
Preston, an early candidate for Dally M rookie-of-the-year, is expected to sign a new four-deal at Belmore on Friday afternoon.
The new contract starts from 2024.
“Jacob has settled into life at Belmore and the NRL seamlessly,” said Bulldogs CEO Aaron Warburton.
“He’s a pleasure to have around the place. His drive, professionalism and maturity is evident. He’s a true bulldog”.
The association between the player and Bulldogs was destiny given Preston’s great grandfather, Ernest Flint, was a former Canterbury Leagues Club president.
Preston will only be aged 26 when the new deal expires in 2027.
“Jake has found a home at Canterbury,” said Jacob’s father, Mark.
“He is a loyal kid who never wanted to leave. Canterbury gave him his chance and he won’t forgot that.
“I know Jake will stay committed, focused and respectful.
“You can tell that he loves the club by the way he is playing his football.”
Preston’s Bulldogs play Cronulla this Saturday at Accor Stadium.
Canterbury general manager of football, Phil Gould, has already foreshadowed Preston being a future captain of the club.
SEA EAGLES SECURE DISGRUNTLED TIGER
The Sea Eagles have pounced on Tommy Talau with the outside back agreeing to a two year deal to join the club from next season.
As Sport Confidential reported last week, the Sea Eagles had made moves to try and get Talau out of the Tigers before the June 30 deadline. So far the Tigers have resisted any moves to allow Talau to exit his deal early. But that hasn’t the stopped the Sea Eagles from securing him for the next two seasons.
It places the likes of Morgan Harper’s future at the Sea Eagles in question with the centre off-contract at the end of the year.
Injury has cruelled Talau’s development with his entire 2022 a write-off. Sea Eagles faithful will get a close up look at him after Talau was named to make his return from a broken nose to play Manly on Sunday.
STORM IN BOX SEAT TO RETAIN NAS
Melbourne are growing increasingly confident that forward powerhouse Nelson Asofa-Solomona is ready to commit to the club.
Asofa-Solomona, off contract at the end of the year, has been the subject of a big-money bid by the Dolphins.
He has also been in the sights of rugby union, both in Australia and across the Tasman. However, the Storm believe that big Nelson is on the verge of committing his future to the club in what would be a huge boost.
TITANIC DEAL FOR ROOKIE STAR
Alofiana Khan-Pereira has been one of the finds of the season on the Gold Coast and now the Titans have moved to lock up the try-scoring machine until the end of 2025.
Sport Confidential has been told that Khan-Pereira - scorer of seven tries in six games in the NRL this season - is on the verge of agreeing to a two-year extension to his existing deal.
It is richly deserved given Khan-Pereira has taken his try-scoring prowess in the Queensland Cup and transferred it to the NRL. The Titans flyer has scored three doubles as part of his try-scoring haul and the Titans have warded off a poaching raid by convincing the 21-year-old to ink a new deal.
CAMPBELL’S GOLDEN CONTRACT CLAUSE
Jayden Campbell has finally got a run of games in the Gold Coast starting side but that in itself has the potential to cause some drama for the Titans.
Sport Confidential has been told that Campbell has a clause in his contract that allows him to test the market once he reaches a certain number of first grade games.
The magical figure is believed to be 30, which means that once Campbell gets through this weekend, he will be only two games short of the mark, placing rival clubs on high alert as they look to swoop on the Gold Coast star.
The Titans may have a fight on their hands given Campbell has already caught the attention of rivals - he was believed to be on the radar of Parramatta in their quest to find a x-factor player.
The Eels’ interest hasn’t gone away but the Titans are unlikely to give up Campbell without a fight.
BEHIND BULLDOGS’ SIX SWITCH
The selection of Matt Burton in the no.7 jersey has largely gone under the radar. Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo made the subtle but significant move in swapping halves Burton and Kyle Flanagan around.
Sport Confidential has spoken with Bulldogs officials to try to get the bottom of the move and the answer is relatively simple – the Bulldogs believe Burton is their best player and he needs to get his hands on the ball more.
Playing halfback will give the NSW and Australian rep more ownership on the side which has lacked direction and cohesion at times in recent weeks. Burton is the club’s most dangerous player so it will see him become more involved.
He has played halfback once in the top grade before – a round three clash for the Panthers in 2021 alongside Jarome Luai where they beat the Storm 12-10.
The move will also take some pressure off Flanagan who will now just be challenged to control his side of the field rather than having to look after the running of the whole team.
Highly fancied rookie Karl Oloapu is inching closer to an NRL debut and it now seems it is just a matter of when the teenage star plays his first game.
DRAGONS SUFFER INJURY BLOW
St George Illawarra will be without representative back-rower Jaydn Su’A for about a month after he suffered a small shoulder dislocation last week. The Dragons are hopeful the injury will rehab naturally and Su’A will avoid needing to go under the knife. If that happens he should be sidelined for about four games which makes it difficult for him to make his Origin return.
The Dragons expect winger Mikaele Ravalawa (hamstring) in time to play the Bulldogs next week.
FLASHBACK
The legacy of the Super League War continued on this day 25 years ago. A year after the warring competitions joined as the NRL – tensions still continued. This time it centred around the Kangaroos captain. Brad Fittler was set to be announced as the Australian captain before it was decided that Laurie Dailey would skipper the side. The Kangaroos lost 22-16 to New Zealand.
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