Warriors in talks to keep Johnson
The Warriors will continue talks with halfback Shaun Johnson’s manager tomorrow to secure his playing future beyond this season.
Johnson is in the last year of his deal with the Warriors but will resume negotiations that began late last year to extend his time at the club he joined as a teenager in 2009.
The Warriors left the Kiwis playmaker to focus on New Zealand’s Four Nations campaign in the UK at the end of last season and were happy to wait until he returned from his off-season break and had time to settle in under new coach Stephen Kearney before reopening contract discussions with his agent Peter Brown.
The 26-yearold is certain to be in line for a major payday but is among other big name players who have held off committing to a new deal with uncertainty surrounding the value of next year’s salary cap.
This year’s cap is set at A$7 million ($7.3m) and could exceed A$10m next season and include a marquee player allowance, with the NRL and Rugby League Players’ Association to agree terms under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Johnson’s status as a free agent beyond this year has fuelled speculation recently that he was considering abandoning the NRL to make a cross-code switch to English rugby.
Warriors managing director Jim Doyle and Brown dismissed rugby talk and the two parties are confident he will remain at the Warriors longterm.
Meanwhile, the Warriors are hoping to meet the NRL’s Integrity Unit again in the coming weeks around when they can expect new recruit Kieran Foran’s one-year contract to be registered.
The NRL has sought assurances on Foran’s mental wellbeing and that he no longer associates with controversial Eddie Hayson.
Doyle added that Foran had done nothing wrong when he left the game of his own accord last May when he was granted a release by Parramatta on compassionate grounds, while struggling with mental health problems and issues in his personal life.
Nine months later, the Warriors are confident he has sufficiently addressed those concerns and believe he is ready to make a playing return.
“We’re still working through the process with the NRL,” said Doyle. “We’ve met with them a couple of times and it will probably be late January or early February when we’ll meet with them again.” gambling identity