Sam Walker’s contract situation is the talk of the town in rugby league, but things will get even spicier in Kangaroos camp on November 1 with so many stars set to become free agents.

The Roosters and Raiders withdrew contract offers for Walker and Hudson Young on Monday, sparking fresh banter ahead of Australia’s third World Cup match.

And no one is immune, with Panthers veteran Liam Martin also copping it with his future up in the air.

“We’re all getting into one another going ‘where are you looking at on realestate.com?’” he laughed.

“It’s just banter, but what the group does really well is we don’t let it distract us. Once we’re training, we’re on and we’re focused on what the job at hand is.

“In that downtime, we can have that laugh so it’s a good balance.”

The Young news was particularly pertinent for Martin, who plays the same position and will attract huge offers from rival clubs once he hits the open market.

The Raiders offered the edge forward a club record deal worth roughly $4.4m over four years, but that wasn’t enough to convince him to stay, with the PNG Chiefs the favourites to sign him.

“They all said ‘Marto, you don’t mind Canberra, do you?’ It’s pretty funny,” he said.

“None of us really expected it, so we were pretty blindsided by it. It’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks.”

Martin’s preference is to stay at Penrith who have some big decisions coming up, with Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo and Moses Leota just some of the stars set to become free agents on November 1.

“It’s pretty tricky because we’ve got a lot of boys to get done,” he said.

“We’ve got our co-captains and Moses Leota, so hopefully fingers crossed we can work out a deal and I stay there.

“I absolutely love being there. It’s still my No.1 choice to stay, so hopefully we can work out a deal. But that’s the reality of football that sometimes it doesn’t play out.”

Storm skipper Harry Grant has also been in the headlines lately, with the Titans reportedly prepared to offer him the world to lure him back to Queensland.

The world’s best dummy-half has a player option to remain in Melbourne for 2028, but that has to be activated by November 1.

“There are a lot more conversations to be had with everything,” he said.

“I’ve been in camp, so we haven’t really had any opportunities. I was in Bali for a few weeks before that, so I wanted to get away from footy and reset coming into this arena.

“I knew this time would be pretty busy, but then there’ll be some conversations off the back of it.

“Everyone’s got their own teams in their corner, and you’re sort of working it through with your team.

“I’m pretty fortunate with the people we’ve got in Melbourne. The relationships that I’ve got with those guys is pretty transparent and we’re talking through all that.

“It’s part of the game at this time of year. If you look across the board, it’s going to be a big part of it.”

Grant said the contract intrigue could be a distraction for some players, but they were all professional enough to focus on the job at hand, which is to win the World Cup.

That includes Walker, who has been able to dodge the intense Sydney spotlight while in camp in Townsville this week.

“He’s all right. I guess everyone has seen the news, so you can’t hide away from it,” Grant said.

“He’s in camp, which is probably a really good place for him. It’s an opportunity for him to keep training and keep worrying about his footy.

“I’m sure Sammy will be fine. There’s probably a bit more to dive into. I think him and his team are the ones that know what that looks like.”

Originally published as Liam Martin and Harry Grant address futures as NRL free agency frenzy hits Kangaroos