Soward's Super League switch denied as Dragons refuse to rule out return
June 14, 2013
St George Illawarra officials are set to block a bid by out of favour five-eighth Jamie Soward to play out the season in England and have not ruled out the possibility of him wearing the Red V again.
Dragons chief executive Peter Doust is understood to have met Soward on Thursday and, while he has not been officially refused a release, the former NSW No.6 is resigned to staying put.
Fairfax Media was told Soward stormed out of training at WIN Stadium after being informed he had been dropped for last weekend's match against Newcastle but he turned up for training with Illawarra Cutters and has impressed the coaching staff of the NSW Cup team. Initially the Dragons were thought to have been prepared to release Soward to Penrith, with whom he recently signed a lucrative four-year deal, but the Panthers cannot accommodate him this season due to the club's second-tier salary cap issues.
If Soward was to join Penrith now, the club would have to demote the lowest-paid member of their top 25 NRL squad, but they have already exceeded the $375,000 limit for the second-tier salary cap and were last weekend unable to play Matt Moylan.
Soward's agent Sam Ayoub has since had offers from Super League clubs - believed to include Salford - for the former NSW Origin five-eighth to join them for the rest of the season.
However, St George Illawarra coach Steve Price has never said publicly Soward was unwanted and teammates are backing him to return to the top grade soon.
Senior players told Fairfax Media the demotion to the Cutters was unlikely to end Soward's career at the Dragons and, on Thursday, skipper Ben Creagh predicted he would bounce back.
It is understood there was no single reason for Soward being dropped but, after one win in six, Price and the coaching staff felt something needed to change.
Soward had been struggling for form and, as he is leaving at the end of the season, they also had one eye on the future - although Chase Stanley and Nathan Fien won't be the scrum-base pairing next year.
After signing Melbourne five-eighth Gareth Widdop, the Dragons are looking for a halfback and have been linked to Canberra's Sam Williams.
Raiders officials said they were unsure of Williams' plans but with Terry Campese, Josh McCrone, Anthony Milford and Mitch Cornish under contract, he is almost certain to leave.
Soward will play for the Cutters again this weekend, but Creagh tipped him to return to the NRL soon.
''He is a professional, he is a first-grade player and I am sure he will bounce back,'' Creagh said. ''He is pretty upset, as you would be.''
