{"id":853359,"date":"2026-08-13T04:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853359\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T04:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:18:13","slug":"nrl-contracts-2026-news-halves-sam-walker-nathan-cleary-daly-cherry-evans-cameron-munster-cause-frenzy-with-perth-bears-and-png-chiefs-andrew-johns-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/853359\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL contracts 2026 news, halves Sam Walker, Nathan Cleary, Daly Cherry-Evans, Cameron Munster cause frenzy with Perth Bears and PNG Chiefs, Andrew Johns analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Intriguing contract decisions by a few of the NRL<\/a>\u2019s top halfbacks are set to send the No.7 market into overdrive.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not often a representative playmaker becomes available to rival clubs, given teams try to lock them down with contract extensions well before rivals are permitted to come knocking.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

NRL halves market about to explode.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

But it seems there could be a number of the game\u2019s best playmakers up for grabs when the November 1 contract reset rolls around.<\/p>\n

Sam Walker<\/a> shocked the Roosters<\/a> this week by delaying a decision on a four-year extension reportedly worth $5 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Nathan Cleary<\/a> is in no rush to recommit to the Panthers<\/a> and looks likely to become a free agent come the end of October.<\/p>\n

His father, Ivan, will coach Penrith<\/a> next year before finishing up. And younger brother Jett Cleary has now requested an early release from his Warriors<\/a> deal in a bid to move home to Penrith and play a season under his father, before potentially inheriting the No.7 jumper from Nathan.<\/p>\n

Cleary, 28, and Walker, 24, are arguably the best two halfbacks in the game at the moment and could command upwards of $1.5m a season if they decide to test the open market.<\/p>\n

The Perth Bears<\/a> enter the competition next year and the PNG Chiefs<\/a> follow suit in 2028. Both clubs have buckets of cash to splash as well as concessions to help them sign top talent.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he went to Perth he would get $1.5m (a year),\u201d Immortal halfback Andrew Johns said of Walker on Nine\u2019s Freddy and the Eighth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow many top-line halfbacks, especially his age, are coming through? Not many.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Walker) will be the halfback for Australia when Nathan finishes up.\u201d<\/p>\n

And they aren\u2019t the only top-class playmakers set to attract attention in the coming months.<\/p>\n

Melbourne five-eighth Cameron Munster<\/a> is off contract in November and has already been speaking to the Chiefs about joining them<\/a> once he leaves the Storm. He\u2019s openly admitted he will leave Melbourne if Craig Bellamy steps down as coach.<\/p>\n

\"Daly<\/p>\n

Daly Cherry-Evans and Sam Walker at the Roosters.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

And veteran halfback Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> remains a wait-and-see as he weighs up whether to retire or play on in 2027.<\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports reported Cherry-Evans will hang up the boots at season\u2019s end<\/a>, but a report on Wednesday linked him to a swansong in England\u2019s Super League.<\/p>\n

Johns says the 37-year-old would be perfectly suited to leading the Bears in their inaugural campaign next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t imagine him going to England. It\u2019s a big move,\u201d Johns said, having spent a brief period playing in England himself two decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo major lower leg injuries, still seeing the game really well. If the Chooks don\u2019t pick him up, (go to) Perth, then you\u2019ve got an experienced halfback there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be offering him whatever he wants, $700-800,000 for sure.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the Roosters this year, the tight games they have won, he has contributed to those.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bears have signed 27 players to date but the quality of their list has been criticised, with utility playmaker Tyran Wishart currently the best choice to wear the No.7 jumper next season.<\/p>\n

Aside from Cleary, Walker, Munster, and Cherry-Evans, there are a number of other playmakers available to rival clubs come November 1.<\/p>\n

The best of the rest includes Raiders young gun Ethan Sanders, Penrith\u2019s Blaize Talagi who has been dropped from first grade in recent weeks, Bulldogs five-eighth Matt Burton and talented Warriors pair Chanel Harris-Tavita and Te Maire Martin.<\/p>\n

While there has previously been a dearth of quality playmakers on the NRL market, there is about to be a glut of them.<\/p>\n

Halfbacks off contract on November 1<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary, Sam Walker, Ethan Sanders, Ben Hunt, Jett Cleary, Kyle Flanagan, Jonah Glover, Zane Harrison, Lachlan Ilias, Onitoni Large, Jock Madden, Sean O\u2019Sullivan, Mitchell Woods<\/p>\n

Five-eighths off contract on November 1<\/p>\n

Cameron Munster, Blaize Talagi, Luke Brooks, Matt Burton, Latu Fainu, Chanel Harris-Tavita, Lhykan King-Togia, Te Maire Martin, Jayden Sullivan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Intriguing contract decisions by a few of the NRL\u2019s top halfbacks are set to send the No.7 market…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":853360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-853359","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\/853359","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=853359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/853359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/853360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=853359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=853359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=853359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}