Titans face battle to hold on to Elgey

[K2G]

Kane Elgey to become one of NRL’s hottest free agents as Gold Coast Titans face bidding war for young halfback
TRAVIS MEYN | The Sunday Mail (Qld)



THE Titans are facing a bidding war to retain rising halfback Kane Elgey, with the Prime Minister’s XIII debutant unlikely to activate an option to stay at the Gold Coast beyond 2016.

Elgey had an outstanding rookie season, playing 16 NRL games after debuting in Round 4 and making the Gold Coast’s No. 7 jersey his own.

Manly pursued the Australian Schoolboys representative this season after Daly Cherry-Evans signed with the Titans.

The Titans fought off Manly’s advances, trumpeting the signing of Elgey on a two-year deal while Cherry-Evans later reneged on his four-year contract with Gold Coast to stay at Brookvale Oval.

But Elgey’s extension is actually signed for only next season, with an option in his favour to stay in 2017.

Elgey will become one of the NRL’s hottest free agents on November 1 when clubs are allowed to begin negotiations to sign him for the 2017 season.

With a shortage of talented young playmakers emerging, the 21-year-old could demand serious dollars if he tests his value on the open market.

The Titans signed Broncos young gun Ashley Taylor on a two-year deal worth $400,000 while they have also snared Knights halfback Tyrone Roberts on a similar contract.

Elgey was on a second-tier contract worth less than $80,000 this season before earning an upgrade.

The Palm Beach Currumbin graduate has no intentions of leaving the Gold Coast but it is likely the Titans will have to up the ante to keep him.

“He’s a Gold Coast boy and is appreciative of (coach Neil Henry) giving him a start,” Elgey’s manager Tas Bartlett said.

“He’s got respect for (Henry) for showing faith in him. He’d love to be here long-term if that can be *accommodated.

“He’s excited for the pre-season already. Guys like Luke Brooks (Tigers) and Ashley Taylor have been in full-time systems for the last three years but Kane’s only had one pre-season.

“You’d think his body shape will change again and playing a bit of first grade this year, he’ll go into the pre-season a lot more relaxed.

“He’s looking forward to the challenge of Roberts and Taylor coming to the club.”

[TitanSam]

I hope he stays forever, he's the future of the club

[Toads]

Geezus.. it's going to be a long off-season with this sort of reporting.

[K2G]

No doubt he will renegotiate an increased contract for the 2017 and beyond seasons.

Lazy, click-bait journalism from Meyny. Pull your finger out and write a real league story about LG or any of our local juniours who legitimately have inspiring stories to tell.

[teke]

No doubt he will renegotiate an increased contract for the 2017 and beyond seasons.

.

...or another team could steal his ass from under the Titans massive War Chest

[Hail Sezer]

He'll stay. Will require an upgrade though and rightly so.

[Titanic]

The only place he will move to is the captains locker.

[JunctionBlock]

They forget how many other playmakers are off contract in 2017 so every club will be in the same position.

[Mexican titan]

The worrying thing for me is that he signed a contract that had an option in his favour for 2017. At the time we were scrambling to sign him we may have had no choice but I agree with my old mate Arko who still says that he would not agree to contracts that have options or get out clauses.
Mind you, what is any contract these days. If a player wants to leave it is usually arranged regardless of a contract and there are also many cases where a club wants to offload a player who is contracted such as Farah and Ballin.