Manly Sea Eagles CEO Tony Mestrov has defended his club's position on Jamal Fogarty, claiming they have not yet talked to the halfback.
The Sea Eagles have been heavily linked to the experienced playmaker, who brought up his 100th NRL game over the weekend with the green machine as they dismantled the Parramatta Eels in Darwin.
Fogarty's contract with the Raiders is complicated, given it had a mutual option in it for 2026.
The Raiders had until Round 6 to take up Fogarty's deal, and despite not doing so, knocked back a request from his management to explore the open market before that deadline.
With Round 6 now passing, Fogarty is officially able to negotiate a new deal with rival clubs, but Ricky Stuart has made it clear on more than one occasion that he wants to keep his playmaker.
Fogarty will reportedly be offered a one-year contract extension on a reduced rate, with The Sydney Morning Herald reporting the club are not keen on offering him a longer-term deal that rival clubs may be able to due to Ethan Sanders' arrival from the Eels over the off-season as the likely halfback into the future.
Manly have expressed that they are keen in Fogarty, a move that will hardly come as a surprise given the club have lost Daly Cherry-Evans at the end of this season, and there are few options on the open market.
Stuart however said the club will sit down with Fogarty to determine the future, and also said he was going to be able to understand whether Manly had made an official approach or not.
โWe want to keep Jamal,โ Stuart said per the publication from Darwin.
โAnd we'll know early this week whether there has been contract negotiations with Manly or not over the last two or three weeks, which we keep hearing, even though you're not allowed to do it.
โWe will sit down with Jamal early in the week and we will tell him exactly what we've got. He was very happy in regards to what I discussed with him early this week. So I'll know if there's been prior communication with Manly... I want to keep Jamal here.โ
Given the Raiders refused to let Fogarty head to the open market, any negotiations before this week would be against NRL rules.
It's believed the Raiders will not lodge a complaint with the NRL.
However, Manly CEO Tony Mestrov told the publication that they have not yet spoken to Fogarty.
โThere's other players we're interested in, it doesn't mean we're talking to them,โ Mestrov said.
โI've said we're interested in him. But we haven't spoken to him, we haven't made an offer and I've been really clear on that.
โThere's nothing really more to say and I'm happy to leave it at that.โ
It's believed the Sea Eagles will offer a two-year deal to Fogarty, and that the chances of him accepting it are high.
