THE Warriors have emerged as the most likely home for Feleti Mateo and Krisnan Inu after making offers to the Parramatta discards.
Kris Keating, Inu, Mateo and Eric Grothe have all had their contract talks put on hold by Eels chief executive Paul Osborne as a punishment for the club's poor start to the season.
While the Bulldogs and North Queensland are circling Keating, the Warriors have made no secret of their desire to lure Mateo and Inu to the Auckland-based club.
"I can confirm that no contracts have been done but we have a very keen interest in them," Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said yesterday. "I don't know the context of what Parramatta was referring to about suspending negotiations with players -- it might be something that lasts two days because I doubt they'd be leaving it for months.
"But we're in contact with their agents and they know where we are and I've been up-front with Ossie (Paul Osborne) and he knows we've expressed interest in those guys."
While the Bulldogs and the Warriors have both suggested that Parramatta's strongarm tactics could backfire on them and play into the hands of rival clubs, Osborne did not want to comment. "I'm not saying any more on it to be honest because there's been enough said," he said.
However, Osborne did contact manager David Riolo yesterday -- whose agency handles the interests of Keating, Inu and Mateo -- after he claimed that Osborne had gone public before informing him of his decision.
"I just said the boys aren't ready to make a final decision on where they're at anyway at the moment so it's not really a concern because there's plenty of interest from other clubs," Riolo said yesterday.
Former Eels coach Michael Hagan questioned the wisdom behind the decision to suspend contract talks, saying it could alienate the players involved.
"I never put them in that situation, so it's hard to say how they will respond but they're quality players who would attract interest irrespective of their current form," Hagan said.
"Other clubs are entitled to talk to your players anyway, but if you're not expressing an interest or making a firm offer for them, it doesn't send the right message to your current players."
Hagan also said the club should be doing everything it could to hold on to Keating, given he was a local product and offered some spark in attack.
Meanwhile, Johnathan Thurston's future is moving closer to settlement.
Manager Sam Ayoub left for a four-day trip to north Queensland today to meet potential third-party sponsors.
Ayoub also met with two NRL clubs yesterday, which wanted to make formal offers.
He would not name the clubs but Thurston has been linked with his former club, Canterbury, along with Parramatta and Newcastle.
Replies
So i think Ozzie and admin mates have come up with this thats its about the way the team are playing etc etc,,,, No club would be stupid enough to use that in reality and risk losing stars if you didn't have something up your sleeve.....Thats business...
Smartest things Ozzie has said he days
He should have kept the whole "no form, no contracts" issue behind closed doors instead of chasing another moment in the media. The disruption cant be helping the team. I like Ozzie and think he has been great for the club, but theres no doubt he loves seeing his picture or name in the papers.
At the moment he is not doing the club any favours by saying these things when we are a club that needs to post a few wins and get the pressure ( that the media puts on our club )off our backs!!
i can't see JT signing for parra......so lets get over it!!
i would love to keep Inu at the club - he would end up as a great winger/goal kicker for us!!
Take nothing of what he says seriously. It's like Jason Taylor's analysis in last Fridays SMH where he said the Bulldogs were going to smash the Bunnies and listed all of his reasons why. He has a sour taste in his mouth (and rightly so, he was treated disgracefully in the end by that club) but the simple fact of the matter is Hagan and Taylor are never going to be able to give an objective opinion about the eels and Souths respectively so they should never be asked to comment on issues surrounding those 2 clubs.
I have lost a heap of respect for him over the last couple of years.
i couldnt stand him as our coach and his media commentary is just as bad
Mate: "are you gonna get the grapplers tomorrow
Hagan: "huh?"
Mate: "the grapplers are you gonna beat them?"
Hagan: "huh?".
He had a real confused look with his bottom lip sticking out. That was our coach.