Franchise keen to sign Whitelock, Dixon
THE Highlanders have presented offers to loose forwards Luke Whitelock and Elliot Dixon and the franchise is also talking to former fan favourite Marty Banks.
But Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark hosed down any speculation it was looking to get Banks back into the fold, saying it was perfectly happy with its current options at first fiveeighth.
Both Dixon and Whitelock are off contract at the end of the season and in a heated market could face some tough decisions over the next couple of months.
Highlanders lock Tom Franklin and utility back Richard Buckman announced last week they were off to play for the Kobe Steelers in Japan at the end of the season and were keen to come back and play for the Highlanders next year.
Clark said Franklin had signed up his future for the next three seasons and would be back to play for the Highlanders and his province, Bay of Plenty, next year.
He would play for Kobe Steelers at the end of this season and there was no Japan top league next year because of the World Cup being staged in Japan.
Under rules set by World Rugby, no domestic competition is allowed to be played in the host country while the World Cup tournament is being played.
Franklin, though, has signed for the 2020 season in Japan, so in reality he has his next three years secured.
A New Zealand Rugby rule states players could go and play in Japan and then play in domestic competitions if they had played 80 Super Rugby games.
Clark said Franklin would get to that figure by the end of the season.
Buckman, whose career has been blighted by injury at times, will not reach that figure by the end of the season.
Clark said they were working with Buckman to secure his future with the Highlanders next year.
Buckman has a sore neck at present and is out for another month at least.
The player market traditionally heated up at this time — just over a year out from the next World Cup — and the Highlanders were talking to both Whitelock and Dixon. The loose forwards had contracts with New Zealand Rugby which finished at the end of the season and an offer had been presented to Dixon.
Dixon (29) is at the crossroads of his career. He was an All Black in 2016 but dropped out of the reckoning last season. He may seek to cash in overseas.
Whitelock, who played for the All Blacks last season, has a lot to weigh up. The 27yearold was called into the endofyear All Black tour last year and is in the All Black picture, though that may depend on the fitness of All Black skipper Kieran Read, who is struggling with a back injury.
Clark said the franchise was talking to Banks but that was about as far as it went.
‘‘We are talking to him and you can never say never, but we are quite happy with our stocks at the moment.’’
Banks had been something of a cult figure with the Highlanders, scoring a crucial dropped goal in the successful final in 2015 and banging over the penalty to beat the British and Irish Lions last year.
He has been playing in Italy but is moving to Japan to play in for secondtier side NTT Docomo Red Hurricanes.
The Highlanders will lose All Black first fiveeighth Lima Sopoaga to England at the end of this season.