Canterbury Bulldogs star winger Josh Addo-Carr might be contracted until the end of the 2025 campaign, but that hasn't stopped the rumour mill firing up over his future.
The winger made the switch to the Bulldogs from the Melbourne Storm ahead of the 2022 season and has scored 24 tries in his 37 games for the club.
Despite his impressive strike rate in a struggling team, the Bulldogs have failed to turn things around this season under new coach Cameron Ciraldo and are locked into a 15th place finish on the table.
The finish represents no improvement over last year, despite the Bulldogs making plenty of positive noise heading into the season following the addition of Ciraldo, who left his role as an assistant at the Penrith Panthers, Phil Gould being the club's director of football, and a number of high profile signings.
Canterbury have done anything but improve though, and according to News Corp, there has been conversation that Addo-Carr has been offered to rival clubs by a third party despite the fact his contract still has another two seasons to run.
So much has the chat developed that rival chief executives spoke about Addo-Carr at the recent conference hosted by the NRL.
Given his deal runs until the end of the 2025 season, the 28-year-old couldn't freely negotiate or sign with rival clubs until November 1 next year, and according to the report, both Addo-Carr's agent Mario Tartak and the Bulldogs have provided assurances that the winger won't be going anywhere.
Still, Addo-Carr's next deal will be intriguing.
By the time he finishes his current deal, he will have celebrated his 30th birthday, and there is a very real likelihood for the winger, who has scored 126 tries in his 164 NRL games to date, that his next deal will be his last.
He experienced untold success during his time with the Melbourne Storm, and could well want more of it before he hangs up the boots, meaning the Bulldogs have approximately 12 months to convince Addo-Carr sticking at Belmore beyond the end of 2025 is the best move for his career.
Addo-Carr's form has certainly not been to blame for the Bulldogs, with the winger recalled to the New South Wales Blues State of Origin squad this year on the back of being one of the stars for Australia at last year's Rugby League World Cup.
His impressive try-scoring record at Canterbury, which as seen 8 tries in 14 games this year, has been backed up by 118 metres per game and leadership abilities which have been regularly commended by his teammates.
