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April 10 2017 - 6:00AM
Canterbury Bulldogs table four-year deals to lure James Tedesco and Aaron Woods from Wests Tigers
Michael Chammas - SMH
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The Canterbury Bulldogs will meet with the management of James Tedesco and Aaron Woods on Wednesday to potentially finalise respective four-year deals that have been put forward to lure the representative duo to Belmore next season.
Fairfax Media has been told the Bulldogs have now put contracts on the table to Woods and Tedesco and are hopeful of securing their services until the end of 2021 - possibly as early as this week.
Wests Tigers powerbrokers are privately resigned to the likelihood of losing skipper Woods, whose body language after Saturday night's victory against the Cowboys only confirmed their fears that the skipper was on his way out.
The now seemingly likely defection of Woods to Canterbury will trigger a massive clean-out at Belmore, which is expected to impact the future of Bulldogs skipper James Graham, who will sit alongside the Tigers prop on NRL360 on Tuesday night.
Graham has attracted huge interest from Newcastle, however the Tigers, who are also chasing Ben Matulino and Russell Packer, are likely to pursue the Bulldogs captain if Woods decides to link up with his close friend David Klemmer at Canterbury and squeeze the Englishman out.
While the Tigers are desperate to retain both players, Tigers officials believe the mammoth $4.5 million deal over four years to Tedesco is their best shot at retaining another member of the 'big four' after Luke Brooks pledged the next two years of his career to the club last week.
With Mitchell Moses bound for Parramatta, Tedesco has to choose between remaining loyal to his junior club or take up offers from the Sydney Roosters and Bulldogs from next season.
Player agent Isaac Moses, who manages Woods, Tedesco, Brooks and Mitchell Moses, spent three days in Townsville last week talking with Tigers coach Ivan Cleary and has now flown to Melbourne to attend to separate matters over the next couple of days.
However, Moses is due to return to Sydney on Wednesday and will meet Bulldogs officials to discuss the lucrative four-year deals the club has put on the table to both Woods and Tedesco.
Despite the relief and jubilation among Tigers players after their shock victory against the Cowboys in Cleary's first game in charge of the joint venture on Saturday night, Woods didn't respond with the kind of outburst of excitement you may have expected from a captain who has been under the pump for the last month.
The emotionally draining, drawn-out contract saga appears to have taken its toll on the NSW and Australian prop, who was said to be quite emotional as he reflected on the win after the match.
He embraced chair Marina Go with a hug in the tunnel at 1300Smiles Stadium and fronted the press conference with red eyes as he tried to keep his emotions in check.
While he might be leaning towards accepting the offer from the Bulldogs, it's clear the prop is torn and the win against the Cowboys might just be the catalyst for him rethinking where he is likely to finish out his career.
If Woods and Tedesco decide their future within the next fortnight, Cleary has indicated he might convince Moses to renege on his deal with the Eels before the 10-day cooling-off period expires.
However, the Tigers will also be in a strong salary cap position and have already identified St George Illawarra skipper Gareth Widdop and Warriors superstar Shaun Johnson as priority recruitment targets to partner Brooks in the halves.
Cleary, who was greeted with a hero's reception from Tigers faithful in Townsville as he made his way on to the team bus following the victory on Saturday night, has already shown the value of his appointment after a week at the helm.
Whether that's enough to convince Tedesco and Woods to stick around will likely be determined at the end of this week.
April 10 2017 - 6:00AM
Canterbury Bulldogs table four-year deals to lure James Tedesco and Aaron Woods from Wests Tigers
Michael Chammas - SMH
\
\
The Canterbury Bulldogs will meet with the management of James Tedesco and Aaron Woods on Wednesday to potentially finalise respective four-year deals that have been put forward to lure the representative duo to Belmore next season.
Fairfax Media has been told the Bulldogs have now put contracts on the table to Woods and Tedesco and are hopeful of securing their services until the end of 2021 - possibly as early as this week.
Wests Tigers powerbrokers are privately resigned to the likelihood of losing skipper Woods, whose body language after Saturday night's victory against the Cowboys only confirmed their fears that the skipper was on his way out.
The now seemingly likely defection of Woods to Canterbury will trigger a massive clean-out at Belmore, which is expected to impact the future of Bulldogs skipper James Graham, who will sit alongside the Tigers prop on NRL360 on Tuesday night.
Graham has attracted huge interest from Newcastle, however the Tigers, who are also chasing Ben Matulino and Russell Packer, are likely to pursue the Bulldogs captain if Woods decides to link up with his close friend David Klemmer at Canterbury and squeeze the Englishman out.
While the Tigers are desperate to retain both players, Tigers officials believe the mammoth $4.5 million deal over four years to Tedesco is their best shot at retaining another member of the 'big four' after Luke Brooks pledged the next two years of his career to the club last week.
With Mitchell Moses bound for Parramatta, Tedesco has to choose between remaining loyal to his junior club or take up offers from the Sydney Roosters and Bulldogs from next season.
Player agent Isaac Moses, who manages Woods, Tedesco, Brooks and Mitchell Moses, spent three days in Townsville last week talking with Tigers coach Ivan Cleary and has now flown to Melbourne to attend to separate matters over the next couple of days.
However, Moses is due to return to Sydney on Wednesday and will meet Bulldogs officials to discuss the lucrative four-year deals the club has put on the table to both Woods and Tedesco.
Despite the relief and jubilation among Tigers players after their shock victory against the Cowboys in Cleary's first game in charge of the joint venture on Saturday night, Woods didn't respond with the kind of outburst of excitement you may have expected from a captain who has been under the pump for the last month.
The emotionally draining, drawn-out contract saga appears to have taken its toll on the NSW and Australian prop, who was said to be quite emotional as he reflected on the win after the match.
He embraced chair Marina Go with a hug in the tunnel at 1300Smiles Stadium and fronted the press conference with red eyes as he tried to keep his emotions in check.
While he might be leaning towards accepting the offer from the Bulldogs, it's clear the prop is torn and the win against the Cowboys might just be the catalyst for him rethinking where he is likely to finish out his career.
If Woods and Tedesco decide their future within the next fortnight, Cleary has indicated he might convince Moses to renege on his deal with the Eels before the 10-day cooling-off period expires.
However, the Tigers will also be in a strong salary cap position and have already identified St George Illawarra skipper Gareth Widdop and Warriors superstar Shaun Johnson as priority recruitment targets to partner Brooks in the halves.
Cleary, who was greeted with a hero's reception from Tigers faithful in Townsville as he made his way on to the team bus following the victory on Saturday night, has already shown the value of his appointment after a week at the helm.
Whether that's enough to convince Tedesco and Woods to stick around will likely be determined at the end of this week.
