{"id":390315,"date":"2024-05-03T04:11:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-03T04:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=390315"},"modified":"2024-05-03T05:04:23","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T05:04:23","slug":"4-5m-bidding-frenzy-to-pour-fuel-on-bitter-rivalry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=390315","title":{"rendered":"$4.5m 'bidding frenzy' to pour fuel on bitter rivalry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns<\/a> says South Sydney<\/a> "needs a rebuild" – but fears it will be thwarted by the club's oldest foe.<\/p>\n

\ufeffAs the Rabbitohs start looking ahead to 2025 – having all but written off 2024 after sacking head coach Jason Demetriou<\/a> – the roster will come under scrutiny.<\/p>\n

They've already started a revamp by reportedly signing English halfback Lewis Dodd on a three-year deal.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Souths skipper's blunt response to Bennett noise<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Body was never so sore': Xerri's warning to NRL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Strong message' as star banned for match fixing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Veteran prop Tom Burgess is leaving, while question marks linger over veteran spine stars Damien Cook and Cody Walker after a poor start to this season.<\/p>\n

Million-dollar fullback Latrell Mitchell's future has also been questioned, although that's more to do with his motivation than his age.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's not a huge rebuild, but the club needs a big shake-up and a change," Johns told Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"None of their junior teams made the semi finals… which is unheard of, they are always really strong. And we know the dramas going on in the NRL team.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffTheir salary cap has a lot of money in players over 30 (years old).<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWalker, Cook, Jack (Wighton) is 31… Cody is coming to the end… and then can you get the best out of Latrell?<\/p>\n

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

"They're coming last… they need a rebuild\ufeff, for sure. Have they got money in the cap? They need to buy a couple of forwards."<\/p>\n

While the idea of a recruitment spree is nice in theory, Johns is concerned South Sydney's efforts will be scuppered.<\/p>\n

The culprit will be their eastern beaches nemesis – the Roosters\ufeff – with whom they've been sparring for more than a century.<\/p>\n

The Roosters have a figurative war chest of salary cap space with which to attack the rugby league market – which is relatively barren already.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Chooks are losing big-money stars Luke Keary, Joey Manu, Joseph Suaalii, and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves\ufeff at season's end. The futures of both Daniel Tupou and Angus Crichton remain up in the air.<\/p>\n

Even with a looming upgrade for halfback Sam Walker, the Tricolours will have millions of dollars available to go hunting for the best talent.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffWhoever is going for players, they are going to have to bid against the Roosters, who have $4.5m or over $4m to spend," Johns said.<\/p>\n

"So if there is a quality player the Roosters are going to get him.<\/p>\n

"There's going to be a bidding frenzy."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns says South Sydney "needs a rebuild" – but fears it will be thwarted by the club's oldest foe. \ufeffAs the Rabbitohs start looking […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":390145,"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\/390315"}],"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=390315"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390321,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390315\/revisions\/390321"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/390145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=390315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=390315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=390315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}