Parramatta Eels CEO Bernie Gurr says the club had always considered a Semi Radradra's return to the NRL a long shot and will take a 'wait and see' approach to the space left over in their 2018 salary cap.
French rugby giants Bordeaux announced the poaching of Radradra from rivals Toulon on Thursday, tying the 25-year-old up with a lucrative deal until the end of the 2020 Top 14 season.
With an option in Radradra's favour in his current Toulon contract, he had flagged the possibility of returning to the Eels in the second half of 2018.
His latest career move however puts him in line to represent his native Fiji at the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, but doesn't change the Eels' roster plans according to Gurr, who had always assumed the big money on offer in European rugby would trump any NRL offer.
"Our belief was that the financial offerings over there were so good that he would be staying over there in any case," Gurr told NRL.com on Friday.
"We love Semi but we had always factored on him staying over there. That was as soon as he left. The offerings over there are just too good."
The Eels are happy to bide their time in the player market having picked up one of the best mid-season signings in years when Mitchell Moses arrived from Wests Tigers last May.
With Jarryd Hayne's high-profile return Brad Arthur is well served for replacement options on Radradra's left wing, where he clocked up 82 tries in just 94 matches for the Eels.
Hayne has been training at right centre since fronting for pre-season training after Brad Takairangi's shift into the back row, leaving Kirisome Auva'a, Josh Hoffman and George Jennings battling it out to partner Michael Jennings on the left flank.
The Eels currently have 28 spots in their top 30 confirmed, and under new NRL rules must fill one more by March 1, but can leave the final position vacant up until until June 30.
"There's a little bit of space (in the cap), probably not as much as anyone thinks, but there is some flexibility there for 2018," Gurr said.
"We've still got a couple of spots open in our top 30, at the lower end, and like a lot of clubs, there's the challenge of finding value for money at the lower end of the top 30 cap.
"We're prepared to be patient and see what happens.
"The bottom line is if there a bit of money to spend, then there is a bit of flexibility.
Replies
Sorry Jack thats nonsense, how can the NRL back anybody charged with that? they can only stay neutral which they did, they let him keep playing till it was resolved.
Hes just signed a new deal for money, nothing more nothing less.
agree- why I was wondering if we have front ended
We've lost Radradra (on his old contract, which was supposedly on unders) and signed Hayne and Evans. The Roosters have sent half their squad to the Knights and only signed $2M worth of players. Their depth is atrocious - they probably have over 15 blokes on minimum salary. Meanwhile we have great depth, with only a handful of players worth the minimum. Two very different squads. Plus they have a bunch of TPAs that allegedly don't break the rules stating the TPA isn't allowed to entice the player to play for the club.
Of course, what's the point of a TPA if not to make a player more likely to play for one club over another? Anyway, all the Eels fans are happy now that we're not organising TPAs to encourage players to sign for us. We're all glad the old cheating board are no longer in charge and paying players outside the cap. We used to hate that lol
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