The Melbourne Storm are looking to quickly re-sign hooker Harry Grant before he can speak to the Newcastle Knights in November, tabling the club’s captain a $1 million-a-season deal this week.
The bumper deal would cover three years beyond Grant’s current contract, keeping him in purple in the Victorian capital until at least the end of the 2030 NRL season.
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The Knights have been sniffing around Grant for some weeks now, with Justin Holbrook seeing him as the perfect upgrade for the 2026 runners-up. Should Newcastle lure Grant to the Hunter, they would then head into 2027 with a spine made up of Kalyn Ponga, Dylan Brown, Fletcher Sharpe, and Grant.
Whether Newcastle can actually afford the 28-year-old is the biggest question now, considering Melbourne are happy to take negotiations to seven figures. With Ponga and Brown already on expensive mega deals for a lengthy period of time, the Knights may simply be beaten by the numbers in any talks.
The Storm may find it a little tricky to go much higher than the $1,000,000 pay packet, however, because they’re speaking to winger Xavier Coates, prop Stefano Utoikamanu, and five-eighth Cameron Munster.
Between the four of them, the Storm’s brass expect to have to fork out up to $12 million across several campaigns. Should any demand more, it could squeeze one out.
That being said, The Sporting Base understands Munster could quickly become the odd man out in that equation—while Craig Bellamy still loves him as a player, Melbourne would be happy to focus on younger re-signings.
Munster obviously thinks the same, considering he’s been speaking to as many NRL clubs as possible heading into the offseason, and even said he’d move to Sydney to play.
On the Knights side, the biggest thing to watch is the Bradman Best saga—should the Hunter club convince him to stay, it’s unlikely Holbrook and the recruitment team will dive into the market seriously. However, if the Parramatta Eels land the gamebreaker, Newcastle will have as much as $1 million to wield.
That would either go towards a serious Grant chase, or they could use it to at least turn Jack Bostock or Herbie Farnworth’s head; both are odds-on to leave Redcliffe after 2027.
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