Canterbury Bulldogs chief executive Raelene Castle hopes Josh Morris will re-sign with the NRL club, but brotherly love could convince the star centre to return to St George Illawarra.
Morris comes out of contract at the end of next season and is considering rejoining twin brother Brett at the Dragons in 2015.
However, Ben Barba’s exit from the Bulldogs might just convince Morris to stay at Canterbury.
Morris has established himself as one of the best centres in the game since joining the Bulldogs at the end of 2008.
And the 27-year-old added another string to his bow when he starred at fullback during Barba’s absence at the tail-end of last season.
Morris was initially reluctant to move from his preferred position, but he may change his tune now that Barba has left.
“Josh is an important part of our squad and once he gets back from the rugby league world cup we’ll be having discussions with him about extending his contract,” Castle said.
“He’s a quality player. Any time you have an international player in your squad, you want to make sure that you keep them, because they add such significant value.”
The Bulldogs had been linked to Warriors fullback Kevin Locke and Parramatta flyer Jarryd Hayne, but Castle said the club would probably focus on developing their own young talent.
“It’s a very complex jigsaw puzzle,” Castle said.
“We haven’t had any significant discussions with any other fullbacks at the moment. A lot of the significant fullbacks are still on contract with their clubs.
“We’ve got some young talent coming through and Des is going to have a crack at developing those into the next Ben Barba.”
Castle was in Perth this week to announce the club’s decision to play a home game in Western Australia next season.
The Bulldogs reached the grand final in 2012, but were knocked out of the finals this year, by Newcastle, at the first hurdle.
Castle says it’s time for the club to repeat their effort of 2004, when they beat the Roosters 16-13 in the premiership decider.
“It’s been 10 years between drinks for us, and that’s a really long period of time.
“Winning a grand final is top of our list.”
AAP jsc/gjw
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
How many weeks are left until we stop caring about the NRL again? This is the golden period of the season, with every team…
The Bulldog was the third man in a scuffle where Alex Seyfarth was sin-binned for a headbutt but escaped punishment, but Joey says he's…
Sam Hughes made contact with the referee during the Bulldogs' clash with the Tigers, with the league's match review committee to investigate the incident.
The Tigers finished the game with 11 men after David Klemmer was sent for ten minutes for dissent, and following a fracas, Seyfarth was…
Benji Marshall has plenty of kids in his side and, sitting 14-6 to the good at half time over the Bulldogs, he might have…
Brent Naden was penalised for running a kick chaser off the ball, while Aidan Sezer was also lucky to stay on the field for…
