Rabbitohs working to retain Crichton

The free-agent feeding frenzy kicks off today and South Sydney officials plan to move swiftly on retaining their cast of rising stars, headed by gun back-rower Angus Crichton.

The Rabbitohs have 14 players off-contract at the end of 2018, including one of the club’s best young talent in Crichton.

On the back of a breakout season, the 21-year-old has attracted interest from rival clubs such as the Roosters and Sharks, and has reportedly met with officials from both clubs.

Despite this, Souths general manager of football Shane Richardson has started talks to keep the Temora-born back-rower at Redfern beyond 2018.

Rabbitohs owner Russell Crowe has been entertaining Crichton in the US in a bid to convince him to stay.

“I think he (Angus) is in a good space at the club and we’ll just take our time and we’ll get to an outcome,” Richardson said.

“We’ll just slowly work our way through it.”

Some of the NRL’s biggest names, including Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Michael Morgan, Jarryd Hayne and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck are all coming off contract.

Rival clubs are able to negotiate with players whose contracts expire at the end of next season from today.

Richardson said Souths had their eyes on a number of star off-contract players, but the club’s priority was retaining its emerging talent.

“Every club evaluates players coming off contract, but our major concern is that we’ve got some great young players coming through, including Angus,” he said.

“We want to make sure that we retain them and create stability within the club.”