Burton knocks back Bulldogs option, will hit market in November

Fast-rising star Matt Burton has told Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs officials he won’t be taking up his contract’s 2024 player option and will be off-contract by the end of the 2023 NRL season—meaning he’s about to negotiate with rival rugby league clubs from as early as November this year.

Burton is sure to be a shining prize for all seventeen NRL clubs this offseason.

The Dubbo young gun, still just 22, is just 16 rounds into a two-year stint in Belmore. He originally pledged himself to the Bulldogs until the end of 2023 after leaving the Panthers to play in the halves but seems to be having second thoughts about the Canterbury Bankstown plan.

Burton made his State of Origin debut on Sunday evening and shone, just as he has for the Bulldogs throughout the first few months of the 2022 NRL season. The star is currently on just $400,000 a year and would command far beyond that if he moves again heading into the league’s 2024 campaign—a swap that is now becoming a reality.

If the Bulldogs can’t wrap him up by November, it will be a frenzy.

The Dolphins stand as one likely suitor early. The expansion club has failed to scoop up any big fish in their early recruitment drive and desperately needs a star playmaker for the next few seasons.

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Other possible interested parties include the Parramatta Eels (with Dylan Brown off-contract in 2023), as well as the Wests Tigers, Newcastle Knights, South Sydney Rabbitohs, and Melbourne Storm, if they can’t tie up their halves stars and their expiry contracts.

The Dragons, in risk of losing Junior Amone to the Dolphins, also shape as one 2024 suitor.

The Bulldogs could also have a trump card up their sleeve— Cameron Ciraldo.

If the Belmore club can do what the Tigers could not and lure the Panthers assistant (who Burton worked with before his Sydney swap) to the Canterbury hot seat, their 22-year-old star may stay.

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“I personally haven’t heard anything about him coming to Belmore so we will have to wait and see what happens. He’d be great at Canterbury,” Burton told The Daily Telegraph pre-Origin II in Perth.

“Ciro is an awesome coach. He’s a really smart guy, he’s got a great football brain. He is also a really good communicator, the way he gets his point across and the way he addresses things is clear, that makes it easy to know exactly what your job is. I think the best thing about his coaching style is how personal he is with the players.

“He’ll come up to you after training and let you know how you’re going and what areas you need to work on and improve,” the young five-eighth continued. “He can be very meticulous.”

Burton and the Bulldogs return to action at home against the Sharks on Saturday, July 2.

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