Rumours around Kyle Flanagan's future at the Canterbury Bulldogs refuse to go away, despite general manager Phil Gould trashing the idea that he may leave the club..
The club have moved back and forth on their stance over keeping Flanagan. It had been reported widely before Phil Gould's arrival that the club were more than happy to see him depart.
However, Gould reportedly then had a different take on his future, wanting to hand the gun youngster a chance behind a stronger side are struggling since his arrival at the club in a team which was beaten badly on a routine basis.
The Bulldogs salary cap problems though have bitten the club. Their string of high-profile signings for 2022, including the likes of Paul Vaughan, Tevita Pangai Junior and Josh Addo-Carr, have not only stretched the salary cap, but left Flanagan almost certainly out of the run-on 17.
Matt Burton will take one place in the halves, while it's anticipated he will be joined by one of Jake Averillo, Bailey Biondi-Odo or Brandon Wakeham, with Flanagan's name also tossed up as a possible option.=
However, The Daily Telegraph reports his salary - which is reported to be around the $450,000 per season mark - is simply too much for the club and they have made significant moves to find him a new home.
Gould slammed the rumours though, calling the report "totally incorrect".
"This report is totally incorrect. Kyle Flanagan has never been offered to other clubs. Kyle has never been asked to seek another club. As for starting the year in reserve grade, Kyle is one of 4 NRL quality half-backs on our roster. We haven’t played a trial game yet," Gould wrote in a tweet.
According to The Daily Telegraph's report, his high salary is reportedly driving clubs away though. The Cronulla Sharks were one club rumoured to be interested at one point, however, it's understood the $450,000 was too much for them to justify, particularly with their own halves being boosted by the addition of Nicho Hynes in 2022.
That means Flanagan - who is on contract at Belmore until the end of 2023 - will likely stay at Belmore for at least the season ahead, and could well spend plenty of time in reserve grade.
Flanagan was in and out of Trent Barrett's team more times than you could count in 2021, playing 13 games across the course of the season, taking his NRL total to 42 games, having played 20 for the Sydney Roosters in 2020, and nine across the previous two years for the Cronulla Sharks after his 2018 debut.
