Valentine Holmes eyeing move to hometown Cowboys

Sharks fullback Valentine Holmes has subtly expressed his desire to return back to his hometown North Queensland.

The 22-year-old seemed taken back by his coach Shane Flanagan's comments on Wednesday, who categorically stated Holmes would be at Cronulla next season.

“I didn’t think he was that keen on me,” Holmes told Fox Sports, in regards to Flanagan's comments.

“Over my dead body. There’s no way in the world I’ll be letting him go before the end of his deal,” Flanagan told NRL.com.

“He will definitely be here next year and hopefully a lot longer.

“We’re in the process of trying to extend him. We’re in negotiations and we’ve spoken to Val and his manager. As soon as he comes out of Origin we’ll be having another conversation about it.”

Holmes is set to come out of contract at the end of the 2020 season, but it seems the writing is on the wall that he will request a trade the Cowboys before his current deal expires.

“He (Flanagan) obviously wants me to stay at the club and I’ve still got two more years there," Holmes said.

“So there is a lot of talk at the moment but I’m not really in with that just leaving it up to my management and the club. But yeah like I said I’ve still got next year and the option for 2020.”

The Maroons' No. 2 expressed his desire to return to Townsville for family reasons.

“Oh definitely (there’s desire to go back to Townsville). Obviously mum and dad are up there, my family’s there and they’re getting old and sort of moving on, you know they’re not really working at the moment so it would be good to see them every now and then and let them come to more games more often," he said.

“They don’t really get to come to games except when I play up there, and obviously if I’m playing Origin they come.

“But obviously I’d love to see them if I could a bit more often but if it isn’t meant to be I can see them a bit later.”