The Sea Eagles have told polarising forward Josh Schuster he is free to look for another club.
Schuster is playing reserve grade on a whopping $800,000 per season and extended for three years only last season.
The 22-year-old was put back in the forwards this season by Manly coach Anthony Seibold after a failed bid to play in the halves last year.
Seibold confirmed to foxports.com.au on Wednesday that he has given Schuster permission to find another club.
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The Dragons have plenty of money in their cap but coach Shane Flanagan told foxsports.com.au his club are not interested in Schuster.
Schuster suffered a bout of chickenpox and a finger injury heading into the season and Seibold’s decision to re-sign him until the end of 2027, which was questioned at the time with no other clubs chasing the youngster, has so far proved a costly one.
Schuster has failed crack first grade this season with backrowers Ben Trbojevic and Haumole Olakau’atu enjoying stellar starts to the season.
Trbojevic has been named in the centres this week as a replacement for Reuben Garrick (concussion) but Corey Waddell was picked to replace him and Schuster wasn’t even included on the extended bench.
Schuster was far too inconsistent at five-eighth last season, with a switch to the back row confirmed after Manly signed Luke Brooks.
Nobody has ever questioned Schuster talent but his work ethic has been over the years and he’s struggled to stay in shape at times.
If the Sea Eagles are able to offload him they’ll be paying a significant amount of his salary for the next three seasons.
LOMAX STICKING POINT AT EELS
Zac Lomax is reportedly set to be tabled a contract to join the Eels for the 2025 season and beyond, but two sticking points have been revealed.
The 24-year-old was granted a release from the final two years of his Dragons contract on Tuesday after it emerged he was disgruntled after shifting to the wing under Shane Flanagan.
The Eels have been leading the race to acquire his services next year, and the gun outside back even attended a family dinner at the home of coach Brad Arthur.
But now, according to 2GB’s Neil Breen, Lomax will have to take a significant pay cut to join the Parramatta outfit.
“Zac Lomax will be tabled an offer from Parramatta this week,” Breen said.
“The problem for Lomax is, it will be a three-year offer, and each year will be about $150,000 to $200,000 short of what he was going to get paid at the Dragons.
“That’s the pay cut he is taking. He was on $800,000 this year, $850,000 next year, $875,000 the year after. He’s going to be $150,000-odd short of that.”
Lomax’s offer from the Eels is set to be around the $650,000 to $750,000, joining the club’s top earners but Parramatta bosses will have to argue his value to the NRL.
NRL rules dictate players are not allowed to sign new contracts with rival clubs for less money than their worth.
According to the SMH, NRL bosses have informed the Eels any difference in his now deal and his Dragons contract will be taken from the club’s salary cap.
Parramatta bosses are reportedly set to argue his new deal reflects his market value, hoping to negate the difference coming off their sap for 2025 and beyond.
Meanwhile, young gun Blaize Talagi is reportedly set to be handed a contract extension, with his current deal expiring at the end of 2024.
He also has an option in his favour to extend midway through this year for the 2025 campaign, but with rivals circling the Eels have moved to sign him on long-term.
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Speaking to the SMH, Arthur confirmed he’d sat down with Lomax and revealed he’s been “impressed” with the gun flyer.
“I met with Zac at my home,” Arthur said.
“We’ve got genuine interest and we want to bolster our squad. We always said we were short an outside back. He’s off contract for ’25.”