Parramatta coach Jason Ryles has boosted his pack following the release of Reagan Campbell-Gillard with Sharks forward Jack Williams set to switch.
Williams can play edge or middle and will be a handy pick-up for the Eels after being offered a three-year deal.
The 28-year-old has played 124 games since his NRL debut in 2018 but has been confined to a bench role at Cronulla behind Cameron McInnes, Briton Nikora and Teig Wilton.
Williams will offset the loss of RCG, who is expected to sign with the Titans after the Eels let him walk from the final year of his deal.
Cronulla have also offloaded prop Royce Hunt to the Wests Tigers to accommodate the arrival of Warriors front-rower Addin Fonua-Blake next season.
Martin surprised by Munster feud
Liam Martin has admitted he was taken aback by Cameron Munster’s claims the pair did not get along, claiming he thought the pair were never on bad terms.
Munster lit a fuse ahead of the grand final between Penrith and Melbourne, when he admitted he and Martin did not get along as Kangaroos teammates in 2022.
The pair first had issues in the 2021 State of Origin series, when Munster was fined for kicking Martin in the stomach while the NSW second-rower was prone on the ground.
Martin has also previously put a target on Munster as the opposing playmaker on his side of the field, and made no secret of his desire to go after him again in the grand final.
But Martin said he had no record of there ever being beef between he and the Storm five-eighth.
“I was quite surprised by that, I thought we were fine,” Martin told AAP.
“But if he is feeling like that, it doesn’t really matter. It won’t change the way I’ll go about things on Sunday. I am quite surprised, but it doesn’t really matter.
“It won’t worry me at all. I won’t change my game plan around it, it is what it is I reckon.”
Martin will act as Nathan Cleary’s bodyguard in Sunday’s decider, with former Panther Shawn Blore to run traffic at the injured No.7’s shoulder.
But Martin has also made no secret of the fact he intended to try and make Munster’s life hell on the Storm’s left edge at Accor Stadium.
“I’m going to have to,” Martin said.
“He’s such a quality player and I love coming up against him in the battles that we have so this will be no different.”
Munster on Monday had said: “It’s funny, looking back on it, we probably didn’t like each other in Aussie camps although we get along pretty well at the moment.
“I’m sure that will be a little bit different on Sunday so I’m looking forward to the battle.
“We’ve always had a great rivalry and wanted to be competitive and get one over each other. He’ll want to take my head off and vice versa.
“He’s a quality player, very strong and very aggressive … I know he’s coming so I’m just going to go out there and play the footy that I can play.
“He’s tried to get under my skin and it worked a few times so I’ve got to go out there and not get frazzled.”
Hughes deserves Dally M: Cleary
Nathan Cleary has declared grand-final rival Jahrome Hughes the best player of the NRL season as Melbourne’s star halfback enters the Dally M Awards as favourite for the prestigious honour.
Hughes has been the architect of the Storm’s best season since Cameron Smith retired, steering the club to the minor premiership amid Cam Munster and Ryan Papenhuyzen’s injury lay-offs.
He most recently parlayed his well-known running abilities into three tries during the 48-18 thrashing of the Sydney Roosters to book the Storm a grand-final date with Penrith.
But other aspects of Hughes’s game flourished in 2024, the 29-year-old recording career-highs in try assists (26) and kick metres (351 per game).
It’s been enough to impress Cleary, widely regarded the best player in the game, ahead of Wednesday night’s Dally M Awards.
“He’s been a pleasure to watch all year, he’s been on fire. He’s been the best player this year for sure,” said Cleary – Hughes’s rival halfback on grand-final day.
“He’s definitely the best running halfback I’ve just about ever seen. The way he takes on the line, he’s constantly a threat.
“I think he’s added a lot of other stuff to his game as well just in terms of game management and ball playing.”
Jahrome Hughes kicks the ball. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)
When voting for the Dally M Medal went behind closed doors at the end of round 12, Hughes sat in equal-15th spot and had lost six points following a one-match ban for touching referee Chris Butler.
But it was only after Munster began a 10-week injury lay-off in round 11 that Hughes truly began to take charge at the Storm and cement himself as a candidate for the NRL’s top individual prize.
Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards led the count in round 12, his 31 points well ahead of Hughes’ 16, but missed seven regular season games through injury and State of Origin absences.
James Tedesco looks to be Hughes’s major competition after an excellent and largely uninterrupted season for the Roosters, with Manly’s Daly Cherry-Evans also a chance for the medal.
Cleary said he had enjoyed analysing Hughes’s game during his lay-offs while nursing hamstring and shoulder injuries this season.
“He’s a great player,” said the Panthers co-captain.
“I have a lot of admiration watching other halves that are really killing it and try to pick their game apart and add it to mine.”
Elsewhere, Canberra five-eighth Ethan Strange, Cronulla centre Kayal Iro and Dolphins winger Jack Bostock have been shortlisted for rookie of the year, with a two-game ban disqualifying breakout Wests Tigers star Lachlan Galvin.
Penrith prop Liam Henry shrugged at missing a nomination despite becoming a mainstay of the triple reigning premiers’ bench on the charge to a grand final.
“I wasn’t upset at all,” he said.
“The three that are up absolutely killed it this year. I’m stoked for them. I wish them all the best on Wednesday.”
with AAP
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