Canberra Raiders champion Jack Wighton is reportedly set to join the South Sydney Rabbitohs in a deal that could rock the NRL to its core.
Fox Sports’ James Hooper revealed that Wighton was expected to travel to Sydney on Friday to finalise “what is tipped to be a four-year deal with South Sydney until the end of 2026”.
It would add more firepower to an already powerful Rabbitohs side who have made the preliminary final stage in each of the last five seasons.
Hooper revealed that the deal is expected to be worth around $3.4m over four seasons — which is a million dollars less than the Raiders’ $4.4m deal which was lodged with the NRL.
“The Rabbitohs trump card is Wighton’s great mateship with superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell, the desire to win a premiership and South Sydney’s proud Indigenous history,” Hooper reported.
He added that Mitchell was the one who alerted coach Jason Demetriou of Wighton’s interest.
A $1m sacrifice would also see Wighton shift positions to the centres as Cody Walker currently has a stranglehold on the Rabbitohs’ No. 6 jersey
Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Demetriou didn’t deny the interest in the 30-year-old.
“We’d love to have him here if there was an opportunity to get him here, but we’re pretty full on the salary cap as well.
“He’s a fantastic footballer, there’ll be a host of clubs interested. We’ll just see how it plays out.”
He also claimed the signing may be difficult because of the salary cap restrictions.
“We’ll get all the big earners and see what they’re willing to do,” Demetriou joked.
“If Cookie’s (Damien Cook) willing to take a pay cut there’s probably something we can sit down and have a chat about.”
Replies
The Dolphins are supposedly upping their offer, meaning the gap between theirs and souths' will be more than $1m. That's a lot of paper bags.
He also claimed the signing may be difficult because of the salary cap restrictions - that's hilarious!
Hope he goes to Soufs. Him, Walker and Latrell will get on the piss together every day. There's some great young talents there they will need to let go and if Parra are smart, they can grab a couple
Rock if you can't beat them join them
It's amazing how players at certain clubs are allowed to take unders but other clubs are forced to pay market value.
Exactly, the NRL put a price tag on Lodge themselves on our behalf. Then let the Rorters sign him for a pittance.
So how can they not put a minimum value on Whighton ?
We should be straight on the phone with to Souths asking about Campbell Graham to free up some cap space!
Exactly the type of player we need at the moment.
Exactly what I thought, that bloke is a great centre/
Hear! Hear!
Dont want to be a party pooper, because I would love him in the Blue and Gold as much as anyone, but that is very very very very very unlikely.
Our recruitment bloke wouldn't know how to operate a phone. Unless he's sending dick pics to the office girls.
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