Luke asked to leave the Rabbitohs, Doyle reveals
Warriors chief executive Jim Doyle says he knew for several years that Issac Luke wanted to return to New Zealand but the Warriors were unable to do anything about it until recently.
The club confirmed on Friday that Luke has signed a three-year contract with the club from next season, in a move that was instigated by the player asking the Rabbitohs if they would let him go.
Once the reigning premiers agreed to this, the Warriors could go after Luke and make him their much talked about marquee signing for 2016.
‘‘I’ve talked to Issac quite a lot over the last couple of years and he’s talked about coming home at some point in time, and it stemmed from there,’’ Doyle said.
‘‘Obviously he signed with Souths, and the last time we talked he was locked in and there was nothing we could do.
‘‘But he said he was interested in a release, he spoke to Souths about it and they said they’d release him to go home and here’s where we are today.’’
It is a hugely generous move from the Rabbitohs to let go of one of the best hookers in the world and they agreed to it without asking for any compensation or transfer fee from the Warriors.
The Sydney club said they agreed to it because Luke had been such a great servant for them.
‘‘They understand he wants to go home for his family,’’ Doyle said. ‘‘Therefore they’ve agreed to let him go and understand that he wants to finish his career here, and we’re very grateful that they’ve been understanding.’’
The Warriors have been trying to land a big-name player since Doyle took over as chief executive last October.
The capture of Roger TuivasaSheck did not fall into this category because he was a like-forlike replacement for Sam Tomkins, both in terms of talent and salary.
Though they missed out on Jason Taumalolo, Trent Merrin and Kieran Foran, in Luke the Warriors got a No 9 who will work wonders with the club’s big forwards. And with his strong running game, which pushes defences back, he will create more openings for Shaun Johnson at halfback.
Luke is also another player who the club’s fans will adore.
‘‘I’m sure he’ll be a favourite,’’ Doyle said.
‘‘I know he’s South Sydney’s crowd favourite and watching the nines, a big percentage of the
crowd crowd stayed behind to watch Issac play in the final. ‘‘So I’m sure he’ll have a big impact, and by having Issac and Roger here next year we’ll have bigger crowds and more members.’’
The signing of Luke means the Warriors won’t take up their option to keep five-eighth Chad Townsend at the club next year.
Townsend has played well this season but wants to return to Australia as his partner’s mother has cancer and the Sharks are keen on signing him again.
The capture of Luke means Thomas Leuluai will go back to five-eighth, where he played most of last season.
One complication to this all though could be how Leuluai feels about this shift as when he signed with the Warriors again last year he did so on the premise that he would be the club’s first-choice hooker.