The St George Illawarra Dragons are reportedly set to launch a bid to take Jayden Brailey from the Newcastle Knights.
Despite the fact the Newcastle Knights dummy half is contracted until the end of the 2025 season in the Hunter, it's understood that the Knights are weighing up multiple elements of their salary cap.
Rumours have recently been fired back up around the future of Daniel Saifiti who is on big money and contracted until the end of 2026, while the future of brother Jacob also remains in the balance.
He is off-contract at the end of the 2024 season and can freely negotiate with rival clubs from November 1 whether he has permission from Newcastle or not.
Despite a strong finish to the 2023 season, the Knights are believed to be wanting to reshape their roster and salary cap, with rumours persisting around many of their squad for much of this year.
Jayden Brailey is the latest to be in the rumour mill's proverbial shop window according to Wide World of Sports the Dragons are looking for an experienced dummy half to partner with Jacob Liddle.
"He is a good No.9 and also a forward leader," a Dragons source told Wide World of Sports.
"He's someone we would definitely be interested in."
Liddle struggled to find minutes under Anthony Griffin in his first season as a Dragon after switching from the Wests Tigers, but played bigger minutes following Ryan Carr's take over as interim coach.
Despite that, it's believed he isn't viewed as an 80-minute hooker, although Brailey certainly is, so it's unclear how the dynamic between the duo would work.
According to the report, the Knights are also looking at the idea of Phoenix Crossland continuing in the number nine jersey next year after helping the Knights into the finals.
The club are also set to lose Kurt Mann, who played some time at hooker in 2023, to the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Brailey missed the entirety of Newcastle's winning run in 2023, and most of the season, with an injury. The luckless 27-year-old, who debuted with the Cronulla in 2017.
He has managed just 107 NRL games in his seven years in the NRL to date, and only 38 since joining the Knights at the start of the 2020 season.