Cleary’s big war chest
IVAN Cleary will have more than A$3.5 million in his war chest to rebuild Wests Tigers if the remaining members of the ‘‘big four’’ decide to leave the jointventure outfit.
The Tigers have secured the services of halfback Luke Brooks, although fellow playmaker Mitchell Moses wants out immediately after signing with Parramatta. Fullback James Tedesco and captain Aaron Woods are yet to decide their futures, but are seriously considering rival offers.
Canterbury are interested in both players, while the Roosters have re-entered the race for Tedesco’s services.
The Tigers have made retaining the pair their top priority and are hopeful they will remain oneclub men. However, the jointventure outfit will be in a position to be one of the major players in the open market should their futures lie elsewhere.
The A$750,000 the Tigers are paying to subsidise Robbie Farah’s salary at Souths will be available in their salary cap next year. Moses’ offer, believed to be worth about A$900,000 a season, has been withdrawn due to the uncertainty over the cap figure for 2018 and beyond, freeing up more funds. The deals on the table for Tedesco and Woods are reportedly worth A$1.2 million and A$800,000 respectively, meaning Cleary will have about A$3.65 million to build his own team should Tedesco and Woods walk away.
There are still plenty of marquee players remaining on the open market, while it is expected several contracted players will be forced out of clubs that have overshot in their estimation of what next year’s salary cap figure will be. Tigers general manager of football Kelly Egan stressed the club’s top priority was keeping Woods and Tedesco.
‘‘They are the absolute priority and always have been, that hasn’t changed,’’ Egan said.
‘‘We’ve just got to make sure we’re managing our roster the best way we possibly can. Hopefully these guys will be happy in the knowledge that we’re going to put a really good team around them.’’
Egan said new coach Cleary was outlining his vision for the club and was hopeful Woods and Tedesco would to be part of it.
The Tigers haven’t been idle in the player market, signing former Maroons forward Chris McQueen to a three-year deal. However, they are now on the lookout for Moses’ replacement and must also begin contingency planning in the event Tedesco and Woods move on.
Warriors star Shaun Johnson and Dragons captain Gareth Widdop are both off contract and have been identified as suitable replacements for Moses. Other halves on the open market include Storm star Cooper Cronk, former Blue Josh Reynolds, Cronulla’s premiership-winning halfback Chad Townsend, Brisbane’s Anthony Milford, Warrior Kieran Foran, Canterbury rookie Matt Frawley and Gold Coast utility Tyrone Roberts.
Jarryd Hayne, Josh Dugan and Will Hopoate have yet to secure their futures and are potential aquisitions should Tedesco depart.
Cleary already has a strong The Sun-Herald GETTY IMAGES relationship with Ben Matulino from their time at the Warriors, while reformed Dragon Russell Packer could be another option should Woods leave. Canterbury will have to offload players should they be successful in jagging their recruitment goals, which also include Foran and Cronk. Several of their forwards, such as James Graham, are on large, back-ended deals and could be Tigers targets.