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Walsh willing to start anew for right deal
BY JAMES GARDINERFORGOTTEN halfback Luke Walsh is prepared to cut ties with the Newcastle Knights and start afresh but only under the right circumstances.
One of the hottest No.7 prospects in the game a year ago, Walsh appears on the outer at the Knights.
After an off-season plagued by illness and injury, the emerging playmaker has been stuck in the NSW Cup and has little prospect of returning to the top grade,
Scott Dureau, who got the jump on Walsh in the off-season, signed a new two-year deal last week.
Jarrod Mullen and Kurt Gidley have also been preferred at halfback, leaving Walsh way down the pecking order.
Walsh's present deal, worth $150,000 a season, does not expire until the end of the next season, taking up a hefty slice of the Knights' salary cap.
Walsh's manager, Todd Buckingham, said though his client was happy to see out his contract, he would consider a move if the Knights brokered a deal which suited.
"If the club finds him a start on the right money and there is an opportunity there, then we would consider it 100 per cent," Buckingham said.
"He would be keen as mustard.
"We had a deal for him to go to [English Super League club] Catalans at the start of the year and the Knights would not let him go. Clubs are trading players all the time. They might be able to construct a deal where Walsh goes to them for someone else."
The Knights last week received interest in Walsh from the New Zealand Warriors, which they forwarded to his management, but talks have since broken down.
"A deal was never in place," Buckingham said.
"I spoke to the Warriors assistant coach, John Ackland, who confirmed they were looking at him and asked me to send some tapes of him.
"I ran it past Walshy, but he was not particular keen to go to New Zealand."
Knights recruitment manager Keith Onslow has refuted claims they were trying to push Walsh out, saying they had simply passed on information to his management.
A month into the season, the Knights and Bulldogs held informal talks about a switch for Walsh, but nothing came to fruition.
Though frustrated by a lack of opportunity, Buckingham said Walsh had learnt to deal with it.
"It did affect him early in the season, but he has his head around it now," Buckingham said.
"It has been going on for four or five weeks. He is pretty comfortable where he is at.
"I spoke to Brian Smith a month ago and he gave me a list of things Luke had to do.
"He has done those for the last month.
"I have been in contact with Smithy during the past couple of weeks and asked how Walshy was going and the reports were good."
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