{"id":892225,"date":"2026-09-14T23:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T23:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892225\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T23:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T23:40:13","slug":"pollock-denies-signing-northampton-deal-and-is-open-to-every-opportunity-northampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/892225\/","title":{"rendered":"Pollock denies signing Northampton deal and is \u2018open to every opportunity\u2019 | Northampton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Henry Pollock insists he has not yet re\u2011signed for Northampton<\/a> and is \u201copen to every opportunity\u201d including playing abroad and trying out other sports. The England back\u2011row is still widely expected to agree a deal to remain at Franklin\u2019s Gardens but, for now, is refusing to publicly confirm his intentions beyond the end of the season.<\/p>\n

While the 21-year-old flanker, who toured with the British & Irish Lions last year, has been offered a significant pay rise to more than \u00a3400,000 a year<\/a> to stay with the English champions until 2029, his new promoter Eddie Hearn has been touting Pollock as \u201ca seven-figure player\u201d<\/a> in terms of what he brings on the field and commercially. Prem salary cap regulations, however, mean that few, if any, other English clubs are in a position to afford him at that level.<\/p>\n

Pollock has made clear that he is prepared to be \u201cselfish\u201d when it comes to maximising his earning potential in company with Hearn\u2019s Matchroom agency. \u201cI\u2019m very much working through different scenarios and avenues I can take,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m very open to new opportunities and exploring that. I\u2019m so young so I think it\u2019s only right I assess those options and find the best decision for myself.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to say no to any opportunity. I\u2019m in contract until the end of the year for Northampton and then after that I guess we\u2019ll see what happens. You almost have to be quite selfish and think what\u2019s right for you. If that is staying here, that\u2019s great. I\u2019ll be here for however long. If it\u2019s not, then I\u2019ll be open to new opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Well-placed sources at Northampton remain confident Pollock will opt to stay put but any future suitors will also be encouraged by the player\u2019s clear desire to venture beyond the East Midlands at some point in his career. \u201cI definitely want to go and live in different countries and explore new sports and new avenues. At the minute rugby is my main priority but you never know what\u2019s happening around the corner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saints\u2019 director of rugby, Phil Dowson, who has seen several high-profile England players depart Northampton in recent years for more lucrative pastures, acknowledged a new deal for Pollock had not been fully nailed down but said an agreement was \u201cgetting closer\u201d with the new season kicking off next week. \u201cAs you can imagine it\u2019s complex,\u201d said Dowson, whose side will commence the defence of their title<\/a> against Newcastle on Friday 25 September. \u201cThere\u2019s a few moving parts that we need to put together. But I\u2019m hopeful. As I\u2019ve said before, he wants to stay and we want to keep him. Obviously there\u2019s some negotiation between that but those two things are very positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would have been good to have it sorted three weeks ago but that\u2019s the case across the board. There\u2019s lots of guys out of contract \u2026 the best way of getting paid is to play well so that\u2019s what we expect the lads to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dowson also believes Pollock\u2019s fast-growing public profile will not necessarily affect his personality or have an impact on his playing performances. \u201cHe has always been honest and energetic. Sometimes that gets misconstrued. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s arrogant, I think he\u2019s bloody talented. If I was that talented I would be pretty confident, too.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBut no, I don\u2019t think he\u2019s changed. The boys still take the piss out of him. He goes on private jets to boxing matches and as long as that\u2019s not impacting how he plays the game, which it hasn\u2019t done yet, I have got no problem. I did ask him if we could borrow the private jet to get to Sri Lanka on tour, but he said he was using it!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Henry Pollock insists he has not yet re\u2011signed for Northampton and is \u201copen to every opportunity\u201d including playing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":892226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-892225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892225","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=892225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/892225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/892226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=892225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=892225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=892225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}