Former Australian Kangaroo centre Josh Dugan is set to start the 2020 NRL season in reserve grade, despite being on roughly $800,000 for the next two seasons.
The Daily Telegraph is reporting the Sharks are very keen to have him off their books and do not believe he has earned, nor deserves his current salary.
They offered his services to France based Super League club Catalans Dragons, who recently signed James Maloney.
Dugan immediately rejected the Dragons offer, as it did not meet his standards.
This decision has left Sharks officials frustrated and in a bid to force his departure, a stint with the Newtown Jets looms large.
If Dugan opts to dig his heels in and stay, he will earn $1.6 million dollars to play reserve grade over the next two seasons.
Dugan would be 31-years-old at the end of his current deal. That decision could be career sabotage, as he would drastically reduce his next deal.
The offer from Catalans was believed to be less than $800,000 and it's unknown if an increased offer could tempt Dugan.
At this stage, he is engaged in a battle to make the Sharks starting lineup. Matt Moylan, Josh Morris, Jesse Ramien, Bronson Xerri and Ronaldo Mulitalo are seemingly ahead of him.
Dugan was absent from a team publicity shoot earlier this week, as he continues to battle another leg injury.
It is believed Dugan would depart the Sharks if an NRL rival was to match his $800,000 salary.
Thereโs zero chance of anotherโs NRL club wanting to pay Dugan $800,000 per season.
Maybe another club could offer $250,000 per season? If the Sharks pay the rest . I canโt see how theyโd get a deal to get rid of him here, unless theyโre paying most of the contract. Otherwise they may be paying quite a bit , for him to play in the Super League.
A waste of money for him & Moylan Sharks.
Come to Melbourne an be a leader in the back line. Melbourne wouldnโt pay 800k a season though would be around 450 maybe so the sharks would have to pitch in some coin to get it done. It would be a good fit for both parties if it did happen
Stay put. Good coin for less effort in reserves.
Yep agree Kev, sharks stuck with him, stupid signing by them in the first place, at the time when he was on the nose at Saints , two years would have been suffice, and you no what , the same with wests tigers, three years for Lauilia is going to come back and bite them big time, he will not put in, but back to Dugan, why leave when two more years on 800k is nice and he has no allegience to Cronulla.
Yes.. My mistake for not checking for an extra โs on another.
If I was Dugan Iโd happily play reserve grade and pocket 800k a year. You donโt have to put up with the media all over you and donโt have to put up with being called out for your teams mistakes.
Instead play the east grade and score a try every week if you want…
If he wants to play real footy tho should do a straight swap Josh Dugan and Aaron Woods for Matt Dufty and James Graham.
Dragons get back a formed player in Dugan who spent 4 years at the club, in fairness he would be the teams best starting centre if they plan of playing Lomax at fullback. Plus that backline particularly those wingers lack experience and he has loads of that. Dragons also get Woods who at 28 is a younger replacement for Graham. A forward pack of Woods McInnes Vaughan Frizzel and Sims would be top 5
Sharks get to clear some salary by losing Dugan but have to swap Woods for Graham. Graham is 34 and well past his prime but heโs a strong leader and works extremely hard, and he is in the final year of his deal so you could clear more salary to spend in the offseason. Dufty who replaces Dugan is still young at 24 and can cover fullback and wing for you.
Sharks clear salary cap space while keeping backs depth and staying competitive. Dragons take on board more salary but get a stronger backline and get a nice replacement for Graham whoโs deal was about to expire.
Enter wayne bennett and souffs. Plenty of cap space there.
You guys need backs mate not us. Forwards please. Iโm sure nicks got a few properties lying around
Thanks Rabbitohs 17 for your insightful contribution young lady.
Today is another day to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the greatest team this century
The team whose heart and soul defence only gave up 3 tries during 3 finals matches last year against the best the league had to offer
A team whoโs has won 3 premierships in 6 years and 1 World Club championship
Today I tip my hat to the GREAT AUSTRALIAN NICK POLITIS
9 comments and three already by the Souths/Roosters nutters. ZT, you need to run a permanent topic for these morons so they have something to do with their lives. Just refresh the topic title every other day and they wont even know the difference.
Anyway, back to the topic, I can’t see any club picking up Dugan at this price so he’s probably staying put. I’m not sure he’ll spend much time in reserve grade though given his strong stats last year and the fact that Moylan is a glaring weak link in defence.
Staying injury free will be Dugan’s biggest challenge.
Apparently souffs are after him as well to replace gagon and johnstone.
I agree with TheMole52 and The RopeableRooster. Rabbit17 is way out of line declaring Sydney Roosters need backs. We have depth with wingers, fullbacks, 5/8 and halfback. Aubo, Morris can cover for centre while Smith recovers.
Rabbit17 is correct big time when he said โForwards Pleaseโ. Souths were proven this is there weakness over the past couple of seasons. This season they will be even more less dominant without two of the Burgess Brothers and Sutton.
Dugan loves to act injured at least once a game to keep the TV camera on him I believe Dugan is in the Cody Walker, Jack Bird Cameron Murray category and are all overrated. Media build up of Player attributes Are always spoken about by commentators who have a man crush on them only for those players to fail every time in the big games.
You can also throw in Souths other old half Reynolds. Who is injury prone.
Only thing he has got is an in-goal grubber kick and a field goal or too.
Barry Beef isnโt it about time you support a decent team. Your club is a dud team and there is nothing for you to comment on. Run away and be gone. I will rattle a bucket when We need to hear your boring comment.
Dugan is the type Souths love to buy. Dud likeReynolds the Injury prone Souths half is also seen better days at 30 years of age.
Mark, I hate to interrupt you responding to your own posts all the time – seriously, you may have a problem there champ – but I actually don’t support any one team, just rugby league in general.
I don’t hate any teams, players, etc and usually gravitate to the team that is playing the most attractive football, regardless of success. You should try it some time and live a little.
For a bloke thatโs always injured I thought he was one of the sharks best last year. Plus he played 23 games last season not a bad effort. Xerri and Ramien havenโt done a thing in their careers thus far.
Spot on Toddy.
While the Sharks would probably be happy to lose Dugan for salary cap purposes, if he stays, he’ll no doubt feature heavily in first grade team selections during the year.
Barry BeathJanuary 27, 2020 at 10:00 am
“I actually donโt support any one team, just rugby league in general.”
Bazza the gypsy chameleon who regularly changes his team colours and has no rugby league home.
Rugby league is a tribal game and showing your true and loyal support for a team is very rewarding. Especially when they are soooo successful as the roosters.
You should try it some time and live a little champ.
$800k for an outside back is crazy, with the way the game is played now outsides are a dime a dozen. Forwards (espically middles) are the new superstars that almost every NRL team is looking to spend big on
Curtis Scott tasered and arrested. Assaulted police.
Big Australia Day it would seem.
Move him into the back row. That’s seems to hasten departure decisions for overpaid and precious centres. Cronulla are one or two short on back row numbers this year however one suspects the old moon boot might make an even more frequent appearance if the acid was on. It’s a happy situation to have so many options however the more sensible move for both parties would be a move to free up more salary cap space.
Happy days for the Raiders hey, having just released Leilua and now this (re Scott). Maybe they could use Duges, but I doubt it.
Ropeable, touchรฉ. I got a chuckle out of your response.
As for Duges, and rightly or wrongly, I think his injuries/potential injury scares would worry any club out of making him a decent offer, and certainly not taking over his current contract in full.
Yep letโs blame the bloke who missed 2/3 games all season and plays busted every week coz he puts his body on the line. Dig your heels in Duges, your not a reserve grader but drain every last cent of that 800 k a season from that stain of a club. Itโs not your fault they signed you to massive coin for 4 years ๐๐ป๐๐ป
Ropeable, if the incessant and repetitive hate posts by the Roosters and Souths fans on this site are an example of sports tribalism then count me out.
I’ll be happy to appreciate good sportsman and sportsmanship wherever I find it.
Josh Dugan more Like $1,000,000 a season is on Drugnullas list of great signings the big 4 if you will
DUGAN
MYTHLAN
JOHNSTON
DANK
SAY NO MORE
Good luck with your search of the impossible Barry. People used to refer to cricket as the gentleman’s game once upon a time. Now look at it, filled with crooks and cheats.
Swap Dugan for Josh Reynolds
Doesnโt look like much but with any luck Reynolds can stay fit in which case he would be awesome off the bench. Plus i believe his contract expires this season not next.
Tigers get another solid outside back in Dugan and get rid of a dud in Reynolds but have to but up with having Dugan for 2 years compared to Reynolds 1 year.
Tigers back line with
1. Thompson
2. Jennings
3. Dugan
4. Leilua
5. Nofoaluma
Would be pretty solid
Barry sounds like one of those South/Western Suburbs Rabbitoh fans that only jump on board if they buy once top players like Mitchell, who has peaked in his career and is a Rooster reject after becoming a greedy wanna be fullback.
As long as he is being “respected” hey Duges???
Good luck with that one when signing at the Sharks………
Plenty of players have played out big dollar contracts in reserves. A couple of Big Doggies have recently.
Back to the Red V? They’re rather short of “marquee signings” and are well known to pay massive overs these days. Ben Hunt for example. First grade at the merged venture is about the same quality as reserve grade elsewhere with the added bonus of more on-camera time…..
What is bbbj, is that bare-back-blow-job. Tell me again who the morons are that offered a cr0ck a 4 year contract and he still plays 4x as many games a Moylan and is a far better player. Talk about paying overs, how’s Johnston going.
The Cronulla sombrero continues to grow. Dugan and Johnston on massive overs, Graham, Fifita, Ramien,Xerri,JMoz. Nikora, Townsend all on big $$$. Must be a few on peanuts to make it fit.
Forgot Woodsy too $$$
Moylan $$$