Inside Matt Lodge's sudden departure from Warriors, why the club let him walk
Matt Lodge wanted out at the Warriors and he got his wish.
Friday’s announcement that Matt Lodge was leaving the Warriors immediately took everyone outside the club by surprise, but those on the inside knew it was going to happen sooner, rather than later as he risked becoming a bad influence.
Lodge, who turns 27 later this month, has a history of walking out of contracts early.
Having started off playing for the Panthers’ NYC team he joined the Storm from 2013.
But midway through the 2014 season he moved to Wests Tigers, where he eventually made his NRL debut.
He was sacked by the Tigers in October 2015 after being arrested at gunpoint in New York for assaulting and holding hostage a couple and their nine-year-old son.
Then last year he made another mid-season move from the Broncos to the Warriors and less than 12 months later he’s done it again. During his time with the Warriors the Broncos will still paying a large chunk of his waged.
Matt Lodge was fined $5000 for giving Titans fans the bird after being sent off in the final game of the 2021 season.
It’s understood he became increasingly unhappy at the Warriors and wasn’t content to see out the season, even though he still wanted the money he was owed.
Lodge’s father-in-law is Peter O’Sullivan, the current recruitment manager at the Dolphins, who did the same job at the Warriors up until quitting late last year to team up with Wayne Bennett.
O’Sullivan now has a poor relationship with the Warriors and his parting with the club was acrimonious.
Lodge is managed by Stephen Moses, the cousin of controversial player agent Isaac Moses, who was previously Lodge’s manager before being de-registered by the NRL last year for coaching Tim Mannah to provide false and misleading evidence to the NRL’s Integrity Unit around the Eels salary cap rorting.
Stephen Moses works for Cove Agency, the company which is owned by Isaac Moses.
Isaac has a terrible relationship with the Warriors and their owner Mark Robinson. Isaac also represented Stephen Kearney, who Robinson sacked in 2020.
How much this is all a factor in Lodge’s thinking is unknown, but Lodge wanted out and wasn’t prepared to wait.
His comments in a press release sent out on Friday that he wanted to provide the Warriors with clarity, because he wouldn’t be taking up the option to be with them next season, makes little sense as throughout the NRL there are players who know they’re moving on next season, but are still content to play out this year with their current club.
Lodge had decided he wanted to leave the Warriors immediately, regardless of the fact that he was contracted through to the end of the season.
At first it was explained to Lodge that this wasn’t how the system worked and he couldn’t walk out of a contract just because he felt like it.
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However, it became apparent that it was more trouble than it was worth to keep Lodge and he’d become a bad influence inside the club.
Rather than risk his poor attitude affecting other players, the decision was made to cut ties and remove him from their environment.
League fans and other clubs can again look at Lodge’s track record for leaving clubs early and determine how much of a pattern there is of it.
On the surface, it looks like terrible news for the Warriors. However, Tohu Harris is going to be used more as a middle forward in the future, rather than being on an edge.
Also, Josh Curran is expected to be back from his knee injury in a couple of weeks and the Warriors may look at picking up someone else to join the squad.
While Lodge’s time at the Warriors won’t be judged a poorly as Kane Evans’s, playing just 14 games and regularly getting into trouble with officials he won’t be remembered too fondly.
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