The NRL is looking into comments made by Perth Bears head coach Mal Meninga, who said he would absolutely “want to be in the picture” to sign Jacob Preston and Matt Burton after their Canterbury Bulldogs contracts expire at the end of the 2027 season.
The NRL just introduced a policy on public comments made by clubs about signing players, which is basically an anti-tampering crackdown that prevents club officials or player agents from publicly courting players under contract.
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Both Preston and Burton are signed through 2026 and 2027 in Canterbury, which means they’re not allowed to publicly deal with other clubs until November 1.
The Bulldogs texted and emailed the NRL about what they see as breaches of the policy.
The exact quote from Meninga now being investigated was: “There has also been a heap of noise around Matt Burton. Jacob Preston, he’s someone coming off contract after 2027; we’ll be in the picture. We will have enough money in our cap to maybe chase a Nathan [Cleary] or a Jake [Preston], if they come onto the open market.”
The Sydney Morning Herald has reported the Panthers were also made aware of the comments around Cleary, specifically. They are “happy to leave it with the NRL to sort out,” Danny Weidler wrote.
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It’s another sting for the Bears, who have really struggled to find marquee players for their 2027 entry into the NRL. It stands in stark comparison to the PNG Chiefs, who join a season later but already have Jarome Luai, Alex Johnston, and Connor Watson.
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Funnily enough, the whole rule was put in place because Gus Gould had been so vocal about Lachlan Galvin and how good he thought he was as a young NRL player.
Maybe harmless, except Galvin then left the Tigers to join the Bulldogs mid-year.
