Newcastle Knights try to lure Melbourne Storm’s Dale Finucane with tour of facilities
Barry Toohey, The Daily Telegraph
CASHED-UP Newcastle has kicked off their sales pitch to lure three-time grand finalist Dale Finucane away from the Melbourne Storm in 2018 by taking him on a tour of the club’s facilities.
Finucane is among a high profile list of Knights recruitment targets for next season that includes premiership-winners Matt Scott and Jack Bird and was in Newcastle on Monday to meet with Knights coach Nathan Brown and head of football Darren Mooney.
The face-to-face visit, that included a look around the city, is an integral part of Brown’s recruitment strategy to drag the Knights out of the NRL cellar and back as a premiership force over the next few seasons.
“The lifestyle in Newcastle is an easy sell but if players aren’t interested in taking the time to have a look around, it probably shows they are not genuine in wanting to play here,” a Knights source said.
“It was a major factor in Kayln Ponga wanting to come here.”
Newcastle faces plenty of opposition for Finucane’s signature with his manager Andrew Purcell revealing the Knights is one of five clubs, including the Storm, who are keen to speak with the fringe Origin forward about his future.
“There is a lot of interest in him and at the moment, it’s a case of him getting to speak to the right people at the clubs he is interested in,” Purcell said.
“He won’t jump into something straight away but he’s open to a number of different opportunities. He’s not going to let it drag on.
“We’ve had a conversation with the Storm and they are obviously aware there is other interest out there and know we are going to go down the road of having a look at what is out there.
“He is 25 and it’s an important contract so he wants to make sure he has a close look at all his options.”
Purcell said Finucane, who has been on the fringe of Origin selection over the past few seasons, is open to leaving the Storm if a better opportunity comes along but denied money had been spoken about at any of the clubs.
“There have been no financial negotiations,” he said.
“At this stage, it has just been about discussing pathways, roles, the direction the club is taking and where he might fit in to all of that,” he said.
“Once he makes a determination on who he is comfortable with, that is when we will pursue the financial side of things.”
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