{"id":371428,"date":"2024-02-29T00:03:33","date_gmt":"2024-02-29T01:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=371428"},"modified":"2024-02-29T04:03:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-29T04:03:36","slug":"gus-reveals-cowboys-cap-pressure-ready-to-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=371428","title":{"rendered":"Gus reveals Cowboys cap 'pressure' ready to bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffhil Gould<\/a> has claimed the Cowboys<\/a> are facing 'salary cap pressure', leading to the recent departure of Luciano Leilua<\/a> and clouded futures of Kulikefu Finefeuiaki and Heilum Luki.<\/p>\n

After missing the finals last season, North Queensland have been tipped to return to the top-eight in 2024, with a strong forward pack and elite playmakers at their disposal.<\/p>\n

Tom Dearden<\/a> has secured his future with a long-term extension, while also being named co-captain alongside star hooker Reece Robson.<\/p>\n

LIVE UPDATES:<\/strong> Australia vs New Zealand first Test, day one<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Fuming' Roosters hand ultimatum to $675k star<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Cowboys veteran ruled out for entire 2024 season<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

However, according to Gould, who previewed the Cowboys' 2024 season on the latest episode of Wide World Of Sports' Six Tackles With Gus<\/em><\/a>, there are some issues facing the club, despite the rumoured new deal for State of Origin hopeful Luki. \ufeff<\/p>\n

\"Heilum<\/p>\n

"They've had to make some salary cap decisions there," he said.<\/p>\n

"Helium Luki was kind of expected he might take a big offer to go elsewhere to the Dragons or Dolphins. He had an option in his own favour – he has elected to stay.<\/p>\n

"That would put a lot of pressure on Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, who is an outstanding young talent and is probably on a much smaller contract than what he could get somewhere else and they'd have to upgrade him to keep him.<\/p>\n

"They've had to move Luciano Leilua – he was on pretty good money up there. He's a good player … but they've made a decision up there.<\/p>\n

"I don't know where they are going to fit them all in."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the comments from Gould, the club's head of football Micheal Luck has shut down the suggestions and revealed negotiations with Luki are ongoing.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"We are continuing to work through it with Heilum's management … he's a priority signing for us and we'll keep working through that process," he told The Courier Mail.<\/p>\n

Jeremiah Nanai likely has one second-row spot sealed in Townsville, with the door now opening for Luki to nab the other if he remains at the club.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

However, their star-studded backline and Jason Taumalolo's ongoing big-money contract \ufeffcould see a player like Finefeuiaki look towards greener pastures.<\/p>\n

"Tom Dearden has decided to stay with the club and that would have put more pressure on their salary cap," Gould said.<\/p>\n

"Scott Drinkwater would have been significantly upgraded as well."<\/p>\n

North Queensland will begin their NRL season against the Dolphins on March 10.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

P\ufeffhil Gould has claimed the Cowboys are facing 'salary cap pressure', leading to the recent departure of Luciano Leilua and clouded futures of Kulikefu Finefeuiaki […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":364757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=371428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":371432,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371428\/revisions\/371432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/364757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=371428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=371428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=371428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}