‘No-brainer’ Murray mega deal keeps Souths skipper away from rugby

The South Sydney Rabbitohs have locked up captain Cameron Murray until at least the end of the 2028 NRL season in a huge new $4.6 million extension that will see him stay playing rugby league through the prime of his 20s.

The bumper extension, which reports suggest is worth around $4.6 million in total, extends Murray out to 2028. He was originally under contract through to 2025 already and couldn’t speak to rival NRL clubs until the end of next season, but the code where he played his boyhood footy had already been making inroads to convince him to defect.

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Rugby Australia has been very interested in poaching Murray to strengthen the Wallabies. Coach Eddie Jones this year said Murray would be a “fantastic 12 in rugby” and compared a potential move to when Sonny Bill Williams swapped to the fifteen-player code.

Murray was originally a schoolboy rugby champion when he was younger.

He swapped to rugby league properly in 2015 with a four-year deal with South Sydney. He made his first-grade debut two years later, in 2017, and has gone on to play 146 games for the Rabbitohs.

In 2019 he enjoyed a breakout year, first forcing club captain Sam Burgess into the second row due to his talents at lock, then was selected for New South Wales for the first time. The Blues won that series 2-1. That season ended with Murray being named Dally M lock of the year and was capped as players’ player by his teammates.

He was crowned Souths captain in 2021 after Adam Reynolds’ exit.

“This club has always been home to me and I never saw myself playing anywhere else,” Murray said in a statement issued by the club.

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“It was a no-brainer for me to extend my contract here. The club has always looked after me and I feel like I’ve always done my best to put the club’s best interests at the forefront of anything I do… I’m excited about the next five years.

“I’m really grateful to the club for putting its trust in me to be a part of our next five years. It’s my responsibility now to repay that trust with my performances and my actions.”