St George Illawarra’s troubles could cost the club a couple of its biggest stars.
Nine’s Danny Weidler reports both Jack Bird and Jaydn Su’A are in danger of walking out on the Dragons as early as this year.
Both have played State of Origin – for New South Wales and for Queensland respectively – and have some of their best football years ahead of them at only 28 years old (Bird) and 25 (Su’A).
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Bird is thought to be earning $550,000 from the Red V, while Su’A is worth $600,000 to the club per season. Both are contracted for next year, but their exits would free up as much as $1.2 million on the salary cap.
“There’s talk coming out that a couple of players may not necessarily want to be there,” Weidler told Nine’s 100% Footy.
“I’m hearing Jaydn Su’A is getting linked to a couple of clubs – that will obviously get denied by Su’A, but that’s what is going on.
“And I heard some mail that Jack Bird has been ringing around looking for a new club. Jack somehow got wind of me chasing that story and rang me today, got on the front foot and said he is going to be a Dragon, he’s staying at the Dragons.
“There’s definitely been something going on, but Jack wants it made clear he is ‘staying with the Dragons’.”
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Bird was a Dragons junior but the club let him go to Cronulla before his NRL career started, and he won the 2016 premiership at centre with the Sharks.
He had two seasons with the Broncos that were marred by injuries, before returning home to join St George Illawarra in 2021.
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Su’A spent his early years at the Broncos but struggled to crack the team, before moving south to play for Wayne Bennett at the Rabbitohs where he became an Origin-class backrower.
He joined the Dragons last year but has struggled to replicate the form he found in Redfern.
A Sydney Morning Herald report linked Su’A to the Knights, who will be able to table a formal offer to him from November 1.
The Dragons have lost five games in a row, and coach Anthony Griffin appears certain to lose his job imminently.
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