{"id":462133,"date":"2025-07-31T20:48:30","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T20:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=462133"},"modified":"2025-07-31T23:15:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T23:15:39","slug":"couldnt-play-rugby-gould-cautions-against-1-5m-switch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=462133","title":{"rendered":"'Couldn't play rugby': Gould cautions against $1.5m switch"},"content":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffyan Papenhuyzen<\/a> is the latest high-profile NRL player weighing up a move to the R360<\/a> competition – but Phil Gould<\/a> has major doubts over the potential code switch.<\/p>\n

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the fullback met with officials last weekend in Melbourne and could be offered a contract worth $1.5 million per year<\/a> to join the rebel league once his current deal with the Storm expires.<\/p>\n

Papenhuyzen is one of rugby league's brightest stars, but remains unsigned with the Storm beyond 2026 and the big-money offer could be hard to turn down.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Bellamy blows up as Storm star 'hooked' in tough night<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Burke's live reaction as he's named for prestigious honour<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE: \ufeff<\/strong>'Got to fix that': Gus fumes over 'ridiculous' Wighton ban<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But with the 27-year-old returning from a calf injury for Melbourne on Thursday night<\/a> and finals on the horizon, Gould is adamant a code switch isn't his top priority right now – but being able to lift the Provan Summons Trophy in October could sway him.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

"Ryan Papenhuyzen strikes me as someone who is extremely loyal to the Melbourne Storm," he said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles With Gus<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

"If they were to win a premiership, it might change his mind about moving on and doing something else. I think he's fairly committed with this playing group to winning a premiership \u2026 they want to get through this and do it together.<\/p>\n

"What happens in the future with Ryan Papenhuyzen, if someone is gonna throw that stupid money at you, I suppose you could consider it.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

"Would he be happy playing in that game? I highly doubt it. Does money make you happy? No it doesn't – that's not the motivation that you need. When you think back on your career when it's over, it's not the money you remember.<\/p>\n

"I think Ryan Papenhuyzen is a really level-headed young man. He got paid every dollar for the years that he missed out when he was injured, so will have some loyalty there.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/omny.fm\/shows\/six-tackles-with-gus-1\/the-raiders-are-out-of-mind-out-of-sight-and-that-s-an-advantage-gus-backs-the-green-machine-to-go-all-the-way\/embed<\/a><\/p>\n

"Reports of offers here and there, that's sometimes management wielding power to extract more money on behalf of their client.<\/p>\n

"I don't think they would be coming from Ryan Papenhuyzen. I don't think he is giving anything a thought other than winning a premiership with the Melbourne Storm.<\/p>\n

"He's contracted until the end of 2026 anyway, it's not even on his mind."<\/p>\n

Papenhuyzen has already won a premiership with the Storm in 2020, where he also collected the Clive Churchill Medal as the best player in the grand final.\ufeff<\/p>\n

He isn't the only league star who has been linked with a move overseas, with Roger Tuivasa-Sheck<\/a> and Jaydn Su'A also in the sights of cashed-up R360 executives.<\/p>\n

\"Roger<\/p>\n

But according to Gould, players need to be wary of the differences between the two codes when the dollar signs start to get flashed before their eyes.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"Be careful what you wish for – money is not everything," the Bulldogs boss said.<\/p>\n

"It's a lot of money, but you've still got to go and perform. I don't know anything about R360 and to be honest, a lot of our NRL players couldn't play rugby. It's a different game, it's not as transferable as people think.<\/p>\n

"I've seen some of our stars go to rugby and they were pretty useless at it. You've got to learn all the rules and they don't get the ball anyway.<\/p>\n

"I don't bag it, a lot of people love rugby and it's a great sport – but it's different and our rugby league players can't play that game."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

R\ufeffyan Papenhuyzen is the latest high-profile NRL player weighing up a move to the R360 competition – but Phil Gould has major doubts over the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":462140,"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\/462133"}],"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=462133"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462147,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462133\/revisions\/462147"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/462140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=462133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=462133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=462133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}