{"id":746668,"date":"2026-06-19T12:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746668\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T12:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:39:11","slug":"nrl-2026-cameron-ciraldo-refutes-reports-jacob-preston-could-leave-the-bulldogs-jack-howarth-on-the-outer-at-melbourne-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/746668\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Cameron Ciraldo refutes reports Jacob Preston could leave the Bulldogs, Jack Howarth on the outer at Melbourne Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cameron Ciraldo has denied Jacob Preston is considering leaving the Bulldogs, claiming the second rower was \u201cshocked\u201d when he was linked with a potential move away from the club.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Preston, who is currently sidelined with an arm injury, will have the chance to earn a big pay day when he hits the open market on November 1.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A report from Code Sports earlier this month suggested Preston was keen to test his value, and that he would not have a shortage of interested suitors. <\/p>\n

The report also claimed Preston and the Bulldogs were \u201cmiles apart\u201d on the asking price for his new contract, with the 24-year-old said to currently be on around $500,000.<\/p>\n

But speaking to reporters on Friday ahead of the Bulldogs\u2019 Round 16 clash with Manly, Ciraldo told reporters Preston \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to go anywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loves being a Bulldog and being in our environment and he\u2019s clear he wants to be a Bulldog a lot longer,\u201d Ciraldo said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to talk about Mal because that\u2019s just footy and it\u2019s a bit of a grey area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was with Presto when the last story came out about him possibly leaving and he was as shocked as I was.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made it very clear that he didn\u2019t know how it got in the paper and it didn\u2019t come from him.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe reiterated to me that he loves being at the Bulldogs, he loves this club and doesn\u2019t want to go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ciraldo also said Preston is a \u201c50-50\u201d prospect for next week\u2019s game against the Titans, while adding that fellow injured second rower Viliame Kikau is more likely to return in Round 20 from his pectoral injury.<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Benji: “Got $30k for no minutes” | 01:20<\/p>\n

STORM GUN ON THE OUTER?<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, it has been a tough year for the Storm by their lofty standards and one of their regular first graders could be on the move. <\/p>\n

News Corp reports<\/a> that centre Jack Howarth may be on the outer as he enters the final year of his current deal at the Storm. <\/p>\n

While Howarth is contracted until the end of 2027, there is talk the Storm is willing to let the versatile 23-year-old leave at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

That is provided they are able to find a deal that works for both Howarth and the club. <\/p>\n

Howarth had been floated as a potential State of Origin bolter this season, with Billy Slater telling media last year he believed the Storm had centre had the \u201cX-factor\u201d to press his claims for a Maroons call-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack\u2019s a wonderful player and a good person,\u201d Slater said on Nine\u2019s Billy Slater Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s always had that X-factor that would suit representative football.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a big lad, he can play back-row or in the centres. He is doing a wonderful job and I thought he had a breakout season last year in that run to the grand final.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s still learning a lot about the game, but playing outside Cameron Munster certainly helps – both with the footy and defensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s certainly not beyond him (to play Origin) in the future, but at the moment he\u2019s continuing his development at the Melbourne Storm and he\u2019s doing a wonderful job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cameron Ciraldo has denied Jacob Preston is considering leaving the Bulldogs, claiming the second rower was \u201cshocked\u201d when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":746669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-746668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=746668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/746668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/746669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=746668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=746668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=746668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}