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Michael Lichaa to remain at Canterbury

Published by
Adam Safi

Michael Lichaa was supposedly squeezed out of the Bulldogs squad for next season due to salary cap woes, being farewelled at season's end.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, Lichaa recently revealed he won't be leaving Belmore.

Lichaa will re-sign with the Bulldogs for a further two seasons, despite late interest from rival clubs.

Lichaa confirmed his extension, at the Lebanon rugby league gala dinner, announcing that a confirmation will arrive, next week.

"I think I'll be staying put," Lichaa said.

"I agreed [to terms] over the weekend, so I'm just waiting on the paperwork side of things. Hopefully, over the next week or two, it will be all done.

"It's a bit of a turnaround but stranger things have happened."

Des Hasler officially released Lichaa from his playing contract in September, allowing him to consider his options.

When Dean Pay was appointed the head coach, Pay decided to offer Lichaa a new contract. The pair's relationship stretches back to 2012 when Pay coached the NSW under 20's team that Lichaa was playing for.

Hasler came to the conclusion, that Lichaa didn't suit his playing style. In the last few weeks of the season, Lichaa opted to run the ball, seeing him feature in several teams of the week, being able to showcase the talent that nobody had seen.

"I just decided I didn't have too much to lose," Lichaa said.

"I wasn't playing [first grade] in the weeks before it, so I thought I may as well run the ball. It's not the end of the world if you get tackled with it.

"We ended up winning the last three games so I don't think it hurt the team. It's just how it went, I guess.

"There are different types of dummy halves; some are ball players and some are runners.

"I'm probably more of a running type of player and I haven't had a chance to show that at Canterbury. Over the last three or four weeks I showed that and that's my best type of footy.

"I'll go from there and if that's the way the coach wants to go moving forward, I'm all for it."

Lichaa discussed his playing style at the Lebanon world cup launch, admiring Farah's style.

"My style was always a run-first, pass-second mentality," he said.

"It was hard for me to change that when I went to the Bulldogs. There are all different types – someone like Robbie is really creative as a ball player, but that's not my style. I like a quick play the ball and then run and then look for an offload from that. Hopefully I'll be able to work more to my strengths next year and go from there.

"I've got lots of things to improve on and hopefully I can play some really good footy."

Lichaa played fifteen games for the Cronulla Sharks, before joining Bulldogs to replace Michael Ennis, where he played in 65 games, scoring 8 tries.

Published by
Adam Safi