{"id":466296,"date":"2025-08-19T20:11:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T20:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466296"},"modified":"2025-08-19T23:16:47","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T23:16:47","slug":"five-club-race-set-to-heat-up-for-victim-of-dce-signing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466296","title":{"rendered":"Five-club race set to heat up for victim of DCE signing"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most in-demand playmaker in the NRL for 2026 is running around in reserve grade at the moment.<\/p>\n

Promising Roosters<\/a> halfback Sandon Smith started the season in red-hot form but has lost his spot to the brilliant Sam Walker<\/a> in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

Walker missed the first half of the season after knee surgery and coach Trent Robinson has paired him successfully with another youngster, Hugo Salava, to good effect.<\/p>\n

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Smith is signed to the Roosters for next season but with Daly Cherry-Evans set to join for 2026, the Roosters don't need four halves on good money in their top 30 squad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Smith shapes as the odd man out and with a shortage of quality playmakers, his management has already been inundated with enquiries from at least five clubs.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Central Coast junior can't hold official talks until given permission by the Roosters but that seems a mere formality.<\/p>\n

"Canberra, the Cowboys, Dragons, Souths and Newcastle have all asked me where things are at with Sandon," Smith's manager Gavin Orr told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"We can't talk at this stage but it seems likely he will move on.<\/p>\n

"He has been man of the match in NSW Cup the past two weeks but the first grade is also playing well so he can't get a crack."<\/p>\n

\"Crichton<\/p>\n

Manly skipper Cherry-Evans is believed to have agreed to terms with the club months ago but his form has plummeted since then.<\/p>\n

There are rumours that the Roosters will offer him a long-term coaching role instead of a playing position in the wake of his struggles on the field.<\/p>\n

CANBERRA'S FORM COULD COST THEM<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Another promising youngster contracted for next season also looks set to make a move over the summer.<\/p>\n

Raiders fullback Chevy Stewart hasn't been able to get a look-in at the club this season due to the superb form of Kaeo Weekes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old debuted last season and looked solid in three top grade appearances.<\/p>\n

Word has it he is close to signing with the Dragons, where he is likely to play fullback, with veteran Clint Gutherson moving to lock.<\/p>\n

Gutherson has been a great buy for the Big Red V but turns 31 next month and has lost some of his speed, making a shift to the forwards a logical decision.<\/p>\n

NEWCASTLE'S UNUSUAL TACTIC TO FIX ISSUE\ufeff<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Knights clearly know they have problems scoring points and have gone to unusual measures to solve the issue.<\/p>\n

The club placed an advertisement on LinkedIn recently for a specialist kick and catch coach for 2026.<\/p>\n

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

Teams like the Roosters (Daniel Tuopu) and Storm (Xavier Coates) have made a habit of nabbing tries from high kicks on a regular basis and the Knights clearly want to join in on the fun.<\/p>\n

But the club is still in a dilemma over exactly who will do the kicking of the bombs, with the lack of a quality halfback one of their biggest problems throughout 2025.<\/p>\n

YOUNGSTER MAKES AN IMPRESSION\ufeff<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Panthers are delighted with a young centre they picked up from the Warriors mid-season – so much so that they have extended him to a long-term deal.<\/p>\n

Compton Purcell started the year in the Wahs' Jersey Flegg team before taking up an offer from the Panthers to cross the ditch.<\/p>\n

Penrith liked what they saw when he joined them and after just a handful of games, the powerful centre has signed with the Panthers until 2028.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The most in-demand playmaker in the NRL for 2026 is running around in reserve grade at the moment. Promising Roosters halfback Sandon Smith started the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":466298,"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\/466296"}],"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=466296"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466302,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466296\/revisions\/466302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/466298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=466296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=466296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=466296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}