Melbourne Storm forward Christian Welch has explained that if it wasn't for a cruel ACL tear in 2019, he would have been plying his trade for the Eels and not the Storm this season.
Welch, 27, toldย The Sydney Morning Heraldย that he had met with Parramatta coach Brad Arthur and was poised to ink a three-year deal with the Bankwest side prior to the season ending ailment.
โI was actually about to sign,โ Welch revealed.
โI made up my mind on a Thursday, I was driving to the airport, called my manager and said, โLetโs get it done early next weekโ.
โI went up to Brisbane, played the Broncos on the Friday night and did my ACL. The Parra offer was then pulled, which was understandable.
โBut I liked Parramatta and the direction they were heading in was really positive. It was actually exciting. My brother lives in Sydney. It was going to be a new challenge.
โI was a similar age to Clint Gutherson and played against Mitch Moses in the under-20s. They seemed like great fellas."
With the potential deal scuppered, Parramatta instead turned their focus to recruiting another Origin calibre big to fill their forward pack void.
โIt ended up being a win-win to be fair. Parramatta signed Reagan Campbell-Gillard, who has been excellent for them, and I ended up staying in Melbourne and got the chance to win a premiership," Welch said complimentarily.
Welch will now watch on the see whether the Storm will face off against their 2020 Grand Final opponents Penrith or earn a date with a group of men the Queenslander could have called teammates in next week's preliminary final.
As a player with a nous for market movements, Welch will be afforded a chance to once again negotiate with rival clubs this November.
But as the current holder of a contract with Craig Bellamy's side for another season, a return to the purple powerhouse could well be what plays out.
Welch has previously been sought after by the Bulldogs and Dragons, but turned his back on the latter deal due to an evident instability at Kogarah.
โIt was tough with them [the Dragons] because I didnโt know who their coach was going to be and what they valued because at the Storm a lot of the stuff I do is valued and doesnโt necessarily show up on a stat sheet,โ Welch said.
โIt was always going to be hard to go somewhere with the unknowns.โ
Having called the Victorian capital home for the entirety of his adult life, any pulls to dislodge the straight-running prop will need to be sizable given that many of Welch's long-term mates also reside in south of Rugby League's heartlands.
โIโd love to stay in Melbourne,โ he said.
โNext year is my ninth year with the club and Iโve established some really long friendships here, including Cam Munster, who is one of my best mates."
However, the six-time Maroons representative stated that the lure of return to his state of origin could well get him across the line.
โOver the off-season Iโd love to get my future sorted so I can then focus on 2022," Welch expounded.
"Being a Brisbane boy, thereโs certainly an appeal to come back home, but whether thatโs my next contract or at the end of my footy career ... Iโll end up in Brisbane at some stage, itโs just a matter of when.โ
