KANGAROOS front-rower David Klemmer is a step closer to signing a four-year contract with the Newcastle Knights after undergoing a medical assessment for the club on Tuesday.
A member of the Knights high performance team drove to Sydney to meet Klemmer and a sports medical specialist to get medical clearance to join Newcastle.
The Knights have offered the front-row enforcer $4.6 million over four years to quit the Bulldogs.
The Knights believe they are within their rights to negotiate with Klemmer, who is now being guided by top player agent Isaac Moses who looks after the likes of Cameron Smith, James Tedesco, Aaron Woods and a host of other big names.
The medical assessment follows revelations of the shocking pay discrepancies at the Bulldogs which allowed Klemmer to be paid only half the salary of struggling teammates.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal almost half of the underperforming Bulldogs first-grade side was on more cash last season than Klemmer, who is now the first front-rower Mal Meninga picks in his Australian side.
In the season just completed, Klemmer earned just a little more than $400,000 compared to lowly regarded teammate Greg Eastwood’s heavily back-ended $800,000.
The Bulldogs are disputing the $400,000 figure. In a note to members today they will claim Klemmer is actually on $700,000 when his heavily back-ended deal is spread over four years.
Statistics show how even more outrageous their pay differences are.
In 15 games, Eastwood averaged just 21 minutes — the extraordinary equivalent of around $200,000 for every 80 minutes on the actual field.
https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...s/news-story/7a64aa44831d1eed5faceb812f7fcf05