Newcastle Knights forward Daniel Saifiti has revealed he will not take a pay cut to leave the Newcastle Knights at the end of the 2024 NRL season.
Saifiti was first linked with an exit from the Knights in the middle of the 2024 NRL season.
The former State of Origin player is on a big contract at the Knights, whose salary cap needs immediate work. That, combined with his form tailing off, led to him receiving a tap on the shoulder.
Saifiti is contracted next year in the Hunter though, and could hold onto his contract if he doesn't find a suitable option elsewhere, even though he has previously confirmed he will look around in a bid to help the club out.
That looking led him to the Dolphins, where he had in-person meetings last week at the club's Redcliffe headquarters, but the prop told AAP that it doesn't mean there is any guarantee he won't be running out for the men from the Hunter next season under Adam O'Brien, who himself is under untold amounts of pressure with clauses in his contract potentially turning 2025 into his last.
"If the club think I am taking a pay cut to go somewhere else, it's not happening," Saifiti told AAP.
"I had a meeting up there, and it went well. I saw it was announced (in the media) I was signed, but that's not true.
"I think someone from the club got an agenda so they could pay less money, but it is what it is. At the moment, I am still signed at Newcastle for two years.
"At the end of the day, the ball is in my court, and I can do what I want."
Saifiti, who has previously - and again in his interview with AAP, confirmed his preference is to remain at the Knights, admitted it would take an impressive deal and club to enforce his departure from the Hunter despite the club's on-field struggles.
Saifiti's future is something of a roadblock for the Knights, who have no clarity on whether the prop will be taking up salary cap space in 2025 or not.
The revelation that Saifiti's move to the Dolphins is not a done deal comes just a day after Leo Thompson was reported to have been weighing up his own future, while the Knights are also said to be looking to move Jayden Brailey away from the struggling outfit.
