The Bulldogs have beaten the Canberra Raiders and Newcastle Knights to Leo Thompson’s signature, with the New Zealand international picking Canterbury due to where he sees the club going in the next four years.
Thompson on Thursday told the Bulldogs bosses he would be accepting the club’s four-year offer, which will begin in 2026, as reported by Michael Chammas in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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By choosing the Bulldogs, Thompson has chosen premiership potential over money: The Raiders were willing to pay the 24-year-old as much as $3.5 million through the same contract period— 2026 to 2029 — while the Knights had a sweetener in the deal where they were going to pay him $200,000 more in 2025 to stay.
Thompson most liked the Bulldogs culture, where he thinks the club will be by the end of the decade, and most importantly how coach Cameron Ciraldo has already developed young players compared to other options.
The Knights were so keen to keep him they offered a bigger pay bump, but Thompson said no.
Apparently, Chammas has reported, Thompson specifically spoke to Newcastle officials about his development at the Knights and how poorly the club’s roster management had been. While it may have been he was flagging this with an interest to stay, The Sporting Base imagines it may simply have been a young player becoming frustrated.
It’s a second sting for the Knights in as many transfer battles, with the Hunter club having had to watch local junior Jonah Pezet choose the Melbourne Storm (where he’ll warm the pine) over a $2.5 million four-year offer to come home.
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For a time it looked like the Raiders would win the Thompson race because his girlfriend wanted to move back to the nation’s capital, but his playing future seems to have won out in the end.
