The Canberra Raiders and Wests Tigers have been named as the rival clubs monitoring the situation of English forward Kai Pearce-Paul, who is off-contract at the Newcastle Knights at the end of this season.
Arriving from the English Super League where he made his name as a youngster, Pearce-Paul has been a solid force for the Knights since the beginning of 2024.
His improvement through the second half of last year and into the opening exchanges of this year have seen a fight break out for his services.
Code Sports reports the three-club battle could see the value of his next contract climb to $600,000 per year.
Newcastle, who have had their own salary cap battle, are due to come out of the hole at the end of this year with a number of players including Jackson Hastings and Jayden Brailey set to leave the club following the early release of Daniel Saifiti ahead of this season.
The former Origin forward is now at the Dolphins.
The club are believed to have made Pearce-Paul a retention priority, but there is little surprise to see other clubs circling.
The Tigers have been on a war path to recruit new players, and more forwards are still on the radar, while the Raiders, despite the signings of other players from England including Morgan Smithies and Matty Nicholson in the last year and a half, are still keen on finding extra talent in the second-row.
Other Englishmen at the club could speak to Pearce-Paul, but so too could money, with the Raiders having previously made multiple plays for Gold Coast Titans and Queensland State of Origin star David Fifita.
Pearce-Paul, who is now 24 years of age but made his Super League debut for the Wigan Warriors back in 2020 and played 61 games for the club before making the switch to Australia.
In that time, he also made his debut for England at the international level.
Pearce-Paul is yet to make a comment on rumours and speculation regarding his future.
