Paul Crawley , The Daily Telegraph
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December 3, 2019 7:16am
As South Sydney prepare to ramp up negotiations with boom young forward Jai Arrow this week, star five-eighth Cody Walker’s future at the club is also reaching a critical stage.
Stopping short of putting a deadline on the 29-year-old who has been offered a two-year extension for 2021-22, Rabbitohs’ general manager of football Shane Richardson conceded the club would like a decision “sooner rather than later”.
Souths put the extension to Walker several weeks ago but so far the negotiations have not moved forward.
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Walker appears to be waiting for Souths’ offer to go up. Photo: Phil Hillyard
It is understood Walker’s management have indicated the current offer of a reported $650,000-a-season is way below what they had in mind, which was more around the $850,000-a-season mark.
“We made an offer three weeks ago and we are waiting to hear back from his manager,” Richardson said.
“We haven’t got a deadline on it yet but we’d rather know sooner rather than later.”
The ramifications could be significant in respect to the Rabbitohs’ future planning given Walker is also a contender to take over as captain.
Walker is in a three-way battle with Adam Reynolds and Test hooker Damien Cook for the top job.
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Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett is still shaping his 2020 side. Photo: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images
Wayne Bennett has indicated he will wait until after Christmas to make a call on the captaincy issue but it would seem logical Walker would be automatically ruled out unless he was committed to the club long term.
The decision could also impact Adam Doueihi’s future role if Walker was to leave.
While Doueihi is currently being groomed to play fullback next season, he played most of his juniors at five-eighth and could just as easily be positioned to be Reynolds’ long term halves partner.
Richardson was adamant Walker’s decision would have no bearing on whether he played out the final year of his contract in 2020.
“He is part of our team next year and we don’t want him going anywhere else,” Richardson said.
“We also want him as a part of our team the year after. We just have to wait and see.”
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Doueihi will also be affected by Walker’s decision. Photo: AAP Image/Joel Carrett
Meanwhile, Richardson is expected to meet with Arrow’s agent David Riolo in the coming days.
Neither Richardson or Riolo would comment about that although it’s no secret the Rabbitohs have identified Arrow as the man they want to take over from Sam Burgess.
While the Titans don’t want to lose Arrow, the Rabbitohs are desperate to get the 24-year-old and they are planning to make an offer as soon as they get the green light from the NRL in respect to how Sam Burgess’ medically forced retirement will impact their salary cap.
If the Rabbitohs get the full freight for Burgess’ $1 million contract back on their cap, that would make it almost impossible for the Gold Coast to compete with.
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Jai Arrow is next on the Rabbitohs’ to-do list. Photo: Adam Head
Arrow was blooded at the Brisbane Broncos under Bennett before moving to the Titans.
He has since developed into one of the game’s best young forwards with a tremendous work ethic on and off the field and a reputation that can’t be faulted.
While he doesn’t yet have Burgess’ huge profile just yet, Arrow is seen as exactly the type of player the Bunnies would like to build their future around along with the likes of Walker, Cook, Reynolds and Cameron Murray.
Like Walker, Arrow is also contracted for next year but an early release could possibly be negotiated if he was to sign with Souths and the Titans upped their interest in Latrell Mitchell.
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