{"id":758830,"date":"2026-06-25T06:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/758830\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T06:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T06:54:19","slug":"sam-walker-contract-extension-roosters-set-to-open-talks-with-star-halfback-after-state-of-origin-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/758830\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Walker contract extension: Roosters set to open talks with star halfback after State of Origin campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Roosters are set to broach extension talks with star halfback Sam Walker and his management once he gets through an Origin campaign that will push his market value well past $1 million<\/a> a season.<\/p>\n

After Panthers star and NSW rival Nathan Cleary, Walker is the most accomplished No.7 coming off-contract in 2027, when a new NRL broadcast deal is expected to bump up salary caps and player values by as much as 20 per cent.<\/a><\/p>\n

Walker and the club are yet to discuss his long-term future ahead of November 1, when rival outfits can present formal offers to the Maroons No.7.<\/p>\n

Both the Roosters and Walker\u2019s preference is to sit down after the Origin III decider on July 8, where the 24-year-old is in with a strong shot at claiming the Wally Lewis Medal for player of the series if he can steer Queensland to victory.<\/p>\n

Walker currently earns a reported $900,000 a year but has driven his asking price \u2013 in a market inflated by the addition of expansion clubs<\/a> Perth and PNG \u2013 up beyond the million-dollar mark with two superb performances at the Maroons scrumbase.<\/p>\n

A third Origin appearance at $30,000 per match pushes him to the verge of a seven-figure salary in any case.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Walker was man of the match in Origin 2 at the MCG.NRL Photos<\/p>\n

As well as claiming man-of-the-match honours<\/a> and booting eight goals from as many attempts in Origin II, Walker was the best player on the field in game one until Kalyn Ponga was sent off and Cleary led a record NSW comeback.<\/p>\n

Walker will play his 100th NRL game against his old junior club Brisbane on Friday night, with his playmaking prime still well ahead of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s been great to watch him play and perform [in Origin] it comes with a passion for how he likes to play the game,\u201d Roosters coach Trent Robinson said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved how he came back [from Queensland duty] last week. He had a really good game two and then came back [with] that focus again for us and then the experience that he gets is invaluable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"RoostersRoosters halves Daly Cherry-Evans and Sam Walker celebrate an Anzac Day try.NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

The fact the Roosters are yet to open negotiations with their halfback has raised eyebrows in NRL circles, though Walker has repeatedly dead-batted questions around his future given he has 18 months left on his contract.<\/p>\n

Asked last week about his market value soaring on the back of his Origin efforts, Walker told this masthead<\/a>: \u201cI haven\u2019t had a single thought about it. I\u2019ve still got a fair bit of time left at the Roosters and, fingers crossed, longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Roosters have already signed Hugo Savala and Toby Rodwell until the end of 2028, while the club has also set money aside should captain James Tedesco look to sign another one-year deal after 2027.<\/p>\n

Walker and veteran recruit Daly Cherry-Evans continue to improve as a halves pairing, with the latter also having an option in his favour to play on into a 17th NRL season next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all knew it was going to be a work in progress for us, and we still haven\u2019t reached our final destination as a side or a halves combination,\u201d Cherry-Evans said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you can see the amount of time we\u2019re spending together and potting into our game, and you can see the improvement. When we\u2019re at our best, I like to think you can see where we can end up, but there\u2019s a long way to go yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s starring role for Queensland only came about through a serious ankle injury to incumbent Maroons No.7 Tom Dearden.<\/p>\n

As one of Queensland\u2019s longest serving captains, Cherry-Evans\u2019 is more than pleased with the state\u2019s playmaking stocks, but hardly surprised by Walker\u2019s seamless move into the Origin arena<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Sam got picked, one thing we all said here at the Roosters was that he wouldn\u2019t be rattled at all,\u201d Cherry-Evans said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s taken it on and played with that distinct flair and style he has. I\u2019ve loved watching him do such a fantastic job for Queensland and for us here at the Roosters, we\u2019ve got some really good building blocks for what we want to achieve here.\u201d<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"DanDan Walsh<\/a> is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-758830","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\/758830","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=758830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}