Confident Dogs expect Idris to put club before money
THE BULLDOGS expect the media circus surrounding Jamal Idris's contract negotiations to pack up and move on inside a fortnight, with the club to table its offer to the young star next week.
The hottest property coming off contract this season returned to training yesterday, having completed a two-day tour of the Gold Coast Titans' facilities.
The Titans were the second NRL club to wine and dine the NSW Origin representative following his meeting with Newcastle officials last week, with both clubs believed to be dangling carrots worth $400,000 a year. Now it is the turn of the Bulldogs to join the bidding, although chief executive Todd Greenberg was adamant his club would not be entering an auction.
''The decision for him needs to be more than simply commercial terms - I've always said that anyone who makes a decision in business or in life based purely on money will make a wrong decision,'' Greenberg said. ''He's made it really clear to me that he wants to stay at the Bulldogs, we've said to him that we see him as a long-term part of the club - as potentially a one-club player.
''The challenge for us now is to make sure we come up with a strong offer to make sure he stays.''
That offer will be put to Idris and manager Sam Ayoub by the end of next week. While loath to put a deadline on a decision, Greenberg didn't expect the process to drag on.
''I think we can wrap it up in the next couple of weeks,'' he said. ''We encouraged him to have his meeting with both the Knights and the Titans … we said it was important for him to do that … it effectively comes down to making sure we put an offer to him that's strong and bulletproof enough to make sure he stays.''
A week after embarking on a three-hour tour of Newcastle's Ausgrid Stadium headquarters alongside Knights coach Rick Stone, Idris reportedly dined with Titans chief executive Michael Searle and coach John Cartwright.
Idris's teammates claim they have no problem with the 20-year-old centre hawking himself around to NRL rivals - as long as it doesn't affect his on-field performances.
''It was his day off, and he can do what he likes on his day off,'' skipper Andrew Ryan said. ''If he's still producing on the field and on the training paddock and he's in the right head space, that's all we can ask.''
THE BULLDOGS expect the media circus surrounding Jamal Idris's contract negotiations to pack up and move on inside a fortnight, with the club to table its offer to the young star next week.
The hottest property coming off contract this season returned to training yesterday, having completed a two-day tour of the Gold Coast Titans' facilities.
The Titans were the second NRL club to wine and dine the NSW Origin representative following his meeting with Newcastle officials last week, with both clubs believed to be dangling carrots worth $400,000 a year. Now it is the turn of the Bulldogs to join the bidding, although chief executive Todd Greenberg was adamant his club would not be entering an auction.
''The decision for him needs to be more than simply commercial terms - I've always said that anyone who makes a decision in business or in life based purely on money will make a wrong decision,'' Greenberg said. ''He's made it really clear to me that he wants to stay at the Bulldogs, we've said to him that we see him as a long-term part of the club - as potentially a one-club player.
''The challenge for us now is to make sure we come up with a strong offer to make sure he stays.''
That offer will be put to Idris and manager Sam Ayoub by the end of next week. While loath to put a deadline on a decision, Greenberg didn't expect the process to drag on.
''I think we can wrap it up in the next couple of weeks,'' he said. ''We encouraged him to have his meeting with both the Knights and the Titans … we said it was important for him to do that … it effectively comes down to making sure we put an offer to him that's strong and bulletproof enough to make sure he stays.''
A week after embarking on a three-hour tour of Newcastle's Ausgrid Stadium headquarters alongside Knights coach Rick Stone, Idris reportedly dined with Titans chief executive Michael Searle and coach John Cartwright.
Idris's teammates claim they have no problem with the 20-year-old centre hawking himself around to NRL rivals - as long as it doesn't affect his on-field performances.
''It was his day off, and he can do what he likes on his day off,'' skipper Andrew Ryan said. ''If he's still producing on the field and on the training paddock and he's in the right head space, that's all we can ask.''
