The South Sydney Rabbitohs have confirmed the departures of seven players following their final match of the 2024 NRL season against the Sydney Roosters.
Damien Cook will join the St George Illawarra Dragons on a two-year contract, and Thomas Burges has decided to call time on his NRL career and return to the Super League for the Huddersfield Giants.
While it was already confirmed that Cook and Burgess would be departing the team at the end of the season, the Rabbitohs have now revealed that five others will be joining them.
The list of players farewelled includes Dean Hawkins, Dion Teaupa, Izaac Thompson, Leon Te Hau and Michael Chee-Kam.
Awarded the 2023 NSW Cup Player of the Year, Hawkins has shown that he can be the perfect backup player in the halves and has been linked with a move to the Gold Coast Titans and Parramatta Eels.
Second-rower Michael Chee-Kam is also set to continue his career in the NRL next season but for the Manly Sea Eagles, with reports indicating that the two parties are in deep negotiations.
Chee-Kam's reported arrival would see him become the 28th member of the club's Top 30 roster and be a valuable back-up to the likes of Haumole Olakau'atu, Ben Trbojevic, Nathan Brown and Corey Waddell.
At this stage, no club has shown interest in the other three players: Dion Teaupa, Izaac Thompson, and Leon Te Hau.
The decision to say goodbye to the players coincides with the arrivals of Euan Aitken (The Dolphins), Gerome Burns, Lewis Dodd (St Helens Saints), Lachlan Hubner (The Dolphins), Jamie Humphreys (Manly Sea Eagles), and Max McCarthy (Cronulla Sharks) for next season.
This means that Ben Lovett, Isaiah Tass, Shaquai Mitchell and Taane Milne have not yet been farewelled despite being uncontracted beyond this season.
The club has reportedly tabled offers to Tass and Mitchell.