Canterbury Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould has confirmed interest for the club in off-contract Sydney Roosters utility Connor Watson.
Watson has, to date, not played in the 2022 season as he continues his recovery from a knee injury sustained during the back half of pre-season training.
As it stands, the Roosters are still hopeful of having him return to the park for the back-end of the 2023 season and an increasingly unlikely push for finals football, with the tri-colours likely needing to win five from five over the final weeks of the season to have a chance of qualifying.
Watson, who began his career in 2016 at the Roosters, remodelled his game into that of a utility during a three-year stint at the Knights and was impressive during his first year back at the Roosters in 2022 on a two-year deal.
Speaking on Channel 9s 100% Footy, Danny Weidler confronted Gould regarding the rumour that Watson would be wearing blue and white next season.
"Connor Watson has been very strongly linked to the Bulldogs," Weidler said during the show.
"I believe that he had a medical last week."
Weidler then asked Gould about the level of interest in Watson from the club, with the director of football confirming he, Watson, and the utility's management have met.
He also suggested Watson had been considering an offer from the English Super League, with the only potential block seemingly being any further setbacks in his recovery from the ongoing knee injury.
"He is a very good player, and we have spoken to him," Gould said.
"He is off-contract at the end of the year with the Roosters and it was my mail that he was considering a UK offer. I thought he was too good to be going to the UK at this time.
"I've had some conversations with him, I've discussed his injury. That's in the hands of the Roosters at the moment. He is under contract [with] them and they are rehabbing the injury.
"Naturally, if we went forward with some sort of contract talks, we would want some sort of protection that the rehab was done properly and he was right to play next year, but our own medical advice is that he will be right to play next year and should get through it pretty comfortably."
Quizzed by former Cronulla Sharks captain Paul Gallen on the role Gould would want Watson to play, the director of football said Watson was simply the sort of player he was looking to bring to the club.
"What he is, he is a professional player from a professional club who has been in really good systems and they are the types of players I'm trying to bring into the Bulldogs to help educate our young blokes on what being a professional is all about," Gould said on Watson's potential role.
"We want competitive people that know the game and understand being professionals, and we have to get them at good value. Connor wants to be an excellent buy, if it works out that well, I hope it does.
"I'm actually meeting him again in the morning to discuss what we learned medically last week. Our aim is that we did sign him, he would be right to play come trials next year and a game in March.
"The injury he has got has zero chance of re-occurring but it's a long and painful rehabilitation to get it 100 per cent right."
Watson has the ability to play in the halves, at lock and at hooker, and would pose as the perfect number 14 for the blue and white.
The club signed Blake Taaffe yesterday and currently has four roster spots available, with the likes of Stephen Crichton, Taaffe, Matt Burton, Karl Oloapu, another recent signing in Toby Sexton and Reed Mahoney in line for the spine or number 14 spots already.
