Rumour: Knights chasing Isaac Luke

From Fox Sports

NEWCASTLE appear in the box seat to sign Issac Luke, as the New Zealand international hooker weighs up his NRL future.

Luke remains off-contract despite having an offer on the table from the Warriors, who he helped lead to this year’s finals series.

The 31-year-old premiership winner and Test star has been approached by the Knights and his manager Bruce Sharrock says the talks are ongoing.

“Things have progressed but I wouldn’t say (signing with Newcastle) is imminent that’s for sure,” Sharrock told the New Zealand Herald.

“There’s a fair bit of water still to go under the bridge.”

The Knights already have New Zealand’s other two recent international hookers on their books - Danny Levi and Slade Griffin.

Griffin suffered a fourth anterior cruciate ligament injury this year, which threatens to put his 2019 campaign on hold.

The Warriors want to keep their star hooker but could struggle to fit him in under the salary cap.

Club CEO Cameron George told the New Zealand Herald there is a deal on the table if Luke wants it.

“We’ve made our best offer under the circumstances of our cap,” George said.

“That offer is before Issac and his manager to review and whether they have been provided with a better option we haven’t been advised.

“We haven’t been told anything yet and that’s where we are at.”


https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...e/news-story/7dedf77f6df500ac06dbadd3102fb3d0
 
Luke would be a good mentor for Levi for 2 years (if Levi takes it well). I just hope we are not going to pay massive overs.
 
I wonder what kind of money we're offering Luke? I'd be happy between the figures of 350-500k personally. Any guesses guys?
 
When he signed with NZ he signed for reportadly 800k. It has been reported that his new offer from them was about half for 1 year (400k). So if we have offered 2yrs i guess around 500k. Its all guess work though.
 
I like that the second year is in knights favour . He has to put in the effort if he wants to play another year.
 
Thinking about this overnight, guys had about 1 good year in his last 6, going in for a shoulder recon and plays a high defensive position. I know there isn't much on the market but really?

You'd have to imagine he'd be at the cheapest $500k even with his injuries.

Unless he takes the 2 year deal with a year in our favour I sincerely hope we don't budge.
 
More like 1 or 2 bad years in 6 his move to the Warriors took some time to come together but he was playing good footy before that and this year too ...
 
Worries me $500k+? And going under the knife as well as inconsistent in effort over the years, very good at best but thinking it's more a retirement plan. Warriors made the 8 why not stay and build on it?
 
every year he is out of contract he plays well. The rest he plays average. So its a smart move by knights to make it a year in their favour!
 
Well no matter what we think one thing is for sure , He will teach our blokes an aggressive style of football if we sign him .
 
You guys are too cynical, I feel like 500k is the absolute maximum we would sign him for, that seems demonstrated by our tentative offer. We've been shrewd buyers so far. Plus he went good at Souths, won a recent premiership, was a quality player over many years & played in a successful finals team. First year at the Warriors he got fat & lazy, improved the next year, went good the year after that.

The surgery is a bit of a concern, if he's battling to make it to round 1, then it's not nice knowing he's going to be finding his feet & fitness during the season with no pre-season, but Levi will be fine for us in that time, it's not like we're relying on Luke to be fit immediately because we have no other option. It's just the realization that Griffin won't be back so we need to buy another hooker.
 
First year at the Warriors he got fat & lazy, improved the next year, went good the year after that. Dead right 2016 he had a belly roll .
 
Realistically all he needs to do is mentor Levi and play hard out for 20mins a game. which will suit his age and him slowing down.
Levi can play the other 60.
 
krustykraz said:
Realistically all he needs to do is mentor Levi and play hard out for 20mins a game. which will suit his age and him slowing down.
Levi can play the other 60.
Click to expand...

Just for fun, extrapolating a hypothetical salary of $500k and playing for 20 minutes a game across 24 matches is around $62.5k/hour or $1k per minute on the field.

Comparing that to a player on $1m per season who would earn $520/minute, that's a pretty sweet deal
 
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