This article explains why Souths have the possible cap space
Rabbitohs close in on Jack Wighton — with thanks from Sydney Roosters
South Sydney have emerged as a surprise frontrunner to sign Canberra star Jack Wighton — and their fierce rivals have played a helping hand.
Michael Carayannis and
Brent Read
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
If the Rabbitohs land
Jack Wighton they will have arch-rivals the Roosters to thank for it.
In a bizarre twist to the ongoing uncertainty surrounding Wighton’s future, the Rabbitohs have emerged as a surprise frontrunner for the Canberra star’s services in recent days.
South Sydney have kick-started discussions with Wighton’s management and despite coach Jason Demetriou saying on Wednesday that it would be tough to squeeze him under their cap next year, the Rabbioths are sitting on a little nest egg largely thanks to the Roosters and some of their other rivals.
The Rabbitohs’ interest raised eyebrows regarding how exactly they would be able to afford the World Cup-winning Kangaroos star.
However, it is understood they have plenty of room to spare in their cap after the NRL opted to scrap plans for match payments from this season and instead roll that money straight into the salary cap as part of the collective-bargaining agreement.
The players union and some clubs were pushing for players to be paid as much as $1500 for every appearance in the NRL from this season. It would have meant every player in the top 30 sharing the additional wealth.
However, the NRL decided to scrap the match payments plan and instead directly increased the cap for this season and beyond at the behest of some clubs — the Roosters are understood to be one of the clubs who wanted to end the match payment plan.
When the cap was increased beyond what many had expected, it gave Souths the wriggle room to make a play for Wighton.
Wighton will use Canberra’s bye period this week to meet with South Sydney officials with a deal potentially completed by the end of the weekend.
South Sydney will offer Wighton a four-year deal which will average out at about $900,000 a season. That is still about $1 million less than what the Raiders have offered while the Dolphins are expected to come in with the richest deal of them all.
Wighton would earn about $800,000 in his first two years at South Sydney but that number could jump significantly in 2026 and 2027 because the Rabbitohs expect Cody Walker and Damien Cook to retire when their deals expire at the end of 2025.
The Rabbitohs are strictly looking at Wighton as a centre – particularly in his first two seasons at the club.
Young gun Isaiah Tass has another 12 months to go on his deal and has established himself as a first grade centre.
The Rabbitohs’ pitch to Wighton includes playing alongside Walker and Latrell Mitchell and joining a club which has a heavy focus on its Indigenous foundations.
