Ex-NRL stars ‘shopped’ to Sharks, Cowboy set to join new club next week

Two former NRL stars are reportedly looking to return to Australia next season, with both offered to the Cronulla Sharks.

Gareth Widdop and Will Chambers both left at the end of the 2019 season to play overseas, last suiting up for the Dragons and Storm respectively.

But now they want back into the NRL and have been “actively shopped” around according to The Australian’s Brent Read and Cronulla are at the centre of it.

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NRL: The panel weighed in on whether they believe Sharks boss John Morris will be sacked from the club after their lacklustre start to the season.

“The Sharks have a lot of money to spend, it’s well-documented they have a lot of players off-contract,” he said on Triple M.

“Obviously in that situation you get a lot of players thrown at you. Gareth Widdop will be coming back to the NRL next year. He is being actively shopped.

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“He was shopped to the Cowboys, he has been shopped to Cronulla. He’s playing obviously in the Super League at the moment and by all reports playing really well. He desperately wants to be back here and hear has been offered to Cronulla.

“Will Chambers is an intriguing one. He wants to come back to the NRL as well and he is being actively shopped around and Cronulla is one of the clubs that has been targeted for Will Chambers.

“They’ve got a lot of money to spend the Sharks and are going to have a lot of options and those two blokes are definitely on the radar.”

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DUGAN, JOHNSON WILL HAVE TO COP PAY CUTS TO STAY AT SHARKS

The Sharks have a number of big-name stars including Matt Moylan, Shaun Johnson and Josh Dugan off-contract at the end of the season.

Read revealed that Dugan’s management met with the Sharks during the week but is highly doubtful he will be offered the $800,000-plus salary he is reportedly on at the moment.

“I believe his management met with the club yesterday or later this week,” he added.

“He’s off-contract at the end of the year. He’s playing pretty good footy to be fair and still is a good player but again he is one of those players at that club on huge money and that money is not going to be there again.

“I wouldn’t surprised if they make him an offer but it won’t be in that same stratosphere.”

On Johnson – it was reported earlier in the week that his management is after $1.6 million over two years.

Johnson is expected to return in Round 8 from an Achilles injury but regardless of how he performs, Nine’s Danny Weidler reports the Sharks won’t re-sign him at his current asking price.

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MCGUIRE COULD HAVE PLAYED LAST GAME FOR COWBOYS

In other news, Josh McGuire could have played his last game for the Cowboys with the experienced forward expected to make a move to the Dragons by early next week.

McGuire (illness) has been ruled out of Sunday’s game with the Tigers and Read reports a departure from Townsville is imminent.

“The Josh McGuire negotiations continue with the Dragons,” he said on Triple M on Saturday.

“The likelihood is that it will be finalised at some point, if not over the weekend, early next week.

“He won’t play this weekend, he’s actually got an infection I believe in his elbow and he would have been 50/50 to play anyway.

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“I think they’ve just decided that he’s probably not going to be there next week, he hasn’t played a lot of footy lately, it’s best to persist without him this weekend.

“I expect that in the coming days there will be an announcement he will be moving to St. George-Illawarra.”

There were reports of a player swap involving Adam Clune and Jake Clifford but the two clubs are set to come to a different agreement.

“The bigger issue there was money, because he’s (McGuire) on a big deal next year,” Read said.

“Basically the two parties had to agree on an amount the Cowboys would put in next season to make the deal palatable to St. George. That’s what they’re working on at the moment, finding an amount of money both sides can agree with.”

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Originally published asOverseas stars ‘shopped’ to Sharks

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