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Wade Graham is set to retire at the end of the season after 16 years in the NRL. The 2016 Premiership winner was honoured at a private event this week to celebrated passing 250 games in for the Sharks, and used it to inform his family, friends and teammates that 2023 would be his last season.
He debuted in 2008 at just 17 years of age with Penrith and has been at Cronulla since 2011, eventually graduating to the Origin arena and making key contributions as the Blues won the shield in 2019 as a stand-in halfback following an injury to Nathan Cleary.
The versatile backrower will get a fairytale send-off in the last round of the regular season with the Sharks set to face the Raiders in the Shire.
Few men will understand the situation that Payne Haas finds himself in with his contract, but one of them might well be Sonny Bill WIlliams.
The Kiwi legend knows a thing or two about being the world’s most in-demand forward – and about fielding offers from multiple clubs and rugby union – and has been offering advice to the Broncos prop as he prepares to enter the open market on November 1.
“Sonny is real good,” Haas told AAP. “He always reaches out to me. Obviously I’m going through some stuff and he has always made sure I am all good and give me some advice.
“He is pretty special to me Sonny. We are pretty close. He is good to have around me.”
The Broncos are likely to make an offer of over $1m a year to Haas, but the player may wait until the market opens to see what else is on the table, with the Bulldogs thought to be willing to go big on the NSW star, as are the Melbourne Storm.
Payne Haas. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
“I don’t want to create controversy at this time of year,” said his manager Ahmad Merhi in a statement.
“We’ve never closed the door on Brisbane, we’re in dialogue with them and anything is possible. We’ve always been hopeful of a good outcome with the Broncos.
“In relation to November 1 and if we’ll go on November 1, if things don’t work out with Brisbane that’s when we’ll go. But the only team we’re able to negotiate with right now is Brisbane, so they’re in the box seat.
“It’s pretty simple, if they come up with the right deal for Payne, we’ll have the deal done before November 1.
“I can tell you right now there’s no contract put on the table yet and dialogue means we’re still negotiating. That door is still very much open and they’re the only club we can negotiate with at the moment.”
Talks on the NRL’s CBA may be about to resume with the two parties set to meet this Wednesday in an attempt to reach a deal.
Peter V’landys is set to take a hands-on role from the NRL’s side in an attempt to stave off further industrial action, notably any boycott of the Dally M Awards.
Speaking to 100% Footy on Monday night, the Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) Chairman said that he didn’t think it would be too complicated to sort things out.
“If we couldn’t do it in a day I’d give it away because they’re not big issues,” he said.
“If both parties came here in good faith you could settle those issues pretty quickly, probably a couple of hours, to be quite frank with you. They’re not massive.
“The big issues have been settled: the funds, the management of the funds, the total money to the players, the salary cap, the minimum payment, the holidays. All settled. These are minor issues.”
His counterpart, Rugby League Players’ Association chair Clint Newton, was happy to be returning to talks but insisted that an independent mediator was still required.
“We just want to get back to the table with Peter with a mediator and get on with it and I think that can solve the problem,” he told Channel 9.
“What the NRL have developed is a bad habit of creating and sometimes making up problems to steal attention away from the truth and the reality is our claims haven’t changed. They still remain, we just want to get back to the table with an industrial reaction mediator and get on with it.
“Peter was the one that walked away from negotiations three weeks ago. It’s great that he has stepped back to the table, that’s fantastic, but you can’t dictate terms to our members.
“Ultimately, they are going to decide who represents them, and ultimately, we do want an industrial relations mediator at the table to resolve it. I don’t see what’s so outrageous about that.”