Manly's offer to Matai comes up short
Manly have made a last-ditch bid to retain their New Zealand international centre Steve Matai, but the three-year contract offer made by the Sea Eagles yesterday is unlikely to be sufficient to keep him at Brookvale Oval.
Matai, off contract at the end of the season, is due to give an answer to coach Des Hasler today after weighing up the new deal last night. However, the chances of the 25-year-old accepting the offer are minimal, as the salary is considerably less than offers from two rival NRL clubs, including the New Zealand Warriors, and three English Super League sides.
Matai's agent, Gavin Orr, said Hasler would be told Matai's decision today, but conceded Manly's offer was below what the player had hoped for.
''It's something that he's got to consider,'' he said. ''It [the offer] is probably not where he's at at the moment. Whether they want to improve on that is another thing.
''There are other clubs in Europe and in the UK that are offering better deals at this stage. [Manly] have been hamstrung with what they were able to offer but we're just considering everything.''
A frustrated Matai last week gave Manly an ultimatum: give me an offer by Monday or I'm off. The Sea Eagles took the hint and tabled a three-year deal before the deadline expired yesterday but there remains a sense of unease on Matai's side about Manly's priorities.
''I think he's probably been in their top two or three players this year,'' Orr said. ''The frustration is more from Steve's side of things. I think Steve is very unhappy they haven't made him a priority and recognised what he gives the team each and every week.''
The Sea Eagles have faced a challenge to retain some of their leading players after tying up Anthony Watmough, Jamie Lyon and Kieran Foran on long-term contract extensions earlier this season.
They added Glenn Stewart to that list in June but the constraints of the salary cap rendered them far from competitive when Canterbury came sniffing for their rookie halfback Trent Hodkinson, who the Bulldogs eventually lured with $280,000 a year. Representative prop Josh Perry is also on the way out, headed for St Helens.
Meanwhile, Canberra fullback Josh Dugan's new contract with the Raiders will finally be made official today - after his name is mentioned in the ACT Magistrates Court on driving charges.
The 20-year-old was yesterday due to front a news conference with Raiders chief executive Don Furner announcing his one-year extension at Canberra but did not know he was meant to show. The scheduling gaffe was put down to a lack of communication between Dugan's management and Raiders officials.
His deal, struck despite strong interest from the Bulldogs and the Sydney Roosters, keeps him at Canberra until the end of 2012. Dugan faces charges of negligent driving and driving while suspended in June.
