BENNETT’S PITCH FOR LOWE
SOUTHS coach Wayne Bennett has upped the ante for Ethan Lowe, holding formal talks with the Queensland Origin hopeful in the strongest sign yet the backrower will quit the Cowboys.
News Corp can reveal the Rabbitohs have tabled a one-year deal for Lowe, who will turn out for the Cowboys in tomorrow night’s trial match against the Titans on the Sunshine Coast. But the pre-season hitout could represent the former Northern Pride star’s final game in Cowboys colours as South Sydney move to free-up space under the salary cap to bring the goalkicking forward to Redfern.
SOUTHS coach Wayne Bennett has upped the ante for Ethan Lowe, holding formal talks with the Queensland Origin hopeful in the strongest sign yet the back-rower will quit the Cowboys.
News Corp can reveal the Rabbitohs have tabled a oneyear deal for Lowe, who will turn out for the Cowboys in tomorrow night’s trial match against the Titans on the Sunshine Coast. But the pre-season hitout could represent Lowe’s final game in Cowboys colours as South Sydney move to free-up space under the salary cap to bring the goalkicking forward to Redfern.
Bennett has personally spoken to Lowe, who is keen for a fresh start at Souths, but his move south hinges on the Rabbitohs’ ability to offload winger Robert Jennings to Sydney rivals the Wests Tigers.
The Tigers are keen to sign Jennings, but recent negotiations hit a stumbling block when the joint venture club was hit with a provisional $639,000 salary cap fine.
However, the NRL yesterday gave the Tigers the green light to sign Jennings. That clears the path for Bennett to get his man, with Lowe to become the final player added to South Sydney’s 30-man fulltime squad.
The final impediment now rests on a compensation deal and whether North Queensland will provide a subsidy to sever ties with Lowe, who fell out of favour with coach Paul Green last season.
The 27-year-old is on around $400,000 at North Queensland, but with the Rabbitohs having limited salarycap room, the Cowboys will have to broker a payout for Lowe to become Bennett’s first Souths signing.
Bennett believes he can reignite Lowe. The Goondiwindi product was outstanding in 2015, playing all 28 games in the Cowboys’ epic grand-final defeat of a Broncos team ironically coached by Bennett.
Lowe went close to clinching a Queensland Origin debut in 2017.