{"id":933359,"date":"2026-10-19T04:30:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933359\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T04:30:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T04:30:16","slug":"nrl-2026-james-graham-questions-brisbane-broncos-offer-to-xavier-willison-says-1-million-is-a-bargain-png-chiefs-november-1-contract-haas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/933359\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: James Graham questions Brisbane Broncos offer to Xavier Willison, says $1 million is a bargain, PNG Chiefs, November 1, contract, Haas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former England Test forward James Graham has labelled a $1 million per season contract for Xavier Willison a \u201cbargain\u201d as the hulking prop heads to market on November 1.<\/p>\n

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The Broncos are facing a nervous wait after Willison and his management confirmed that he was going to have a look at rival offers<\/a> from next month.<\/p>\n

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Just weeks ago the Broncos were very confident that Willison would re-sign before other clubs could talk to him.<\/p>\n

The Broncos are prepared to pay him $1 million a season for a four-year extension with the view that he will be their next Payne Haas and lead the pack into the future.<\/p>\n

But Graham, who played 392 first grade games in the NRL and Super League, thinks the Broncos offer wasn\u2019t up to scratch.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt 24, and from what I\u2019ve seen from Xavier Willison, $1 million a season is a bargain for the Broncos,\u201d Graham said on his Bye Round podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you could even argue with a ratchet (clause), I think it\u2019s a bargain.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re desperate. They can\u2019t afford to lose him. They are desperate for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a reason why the Broncos want him for four years as well. Because they\u2019re looking at this as a bargain.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fiji make statement against Cook Islands | 02:32<\/p>\n

Willison was recently awarded the Paul Morgan Medal as Brisbane\u2019s best player for 2026. <\/p>\n

Graham thinks Willison may take a shorter contract in the hope that he\u2019s worth even more in two more years when he\u2019ll be hitting his peak playing age.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe you\u2019d look and go, do you get a two-year deal and back yourself to be the best front rower,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re at 26 entering this deal\u2026it\u2019s the price you pay for long-term deals and security. You don\u2019t get any wiggle room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paying forwards more than $1 million per season has come with a degree of risk.<\/p>\n

In March, 2017 the Cowboys announced that Jason Taumalolo had signed a 10-year, $10 million deal.<\/a><\/p>\n

At the time he was clearly the game\u2019s best forward and was running for more than 200m per game which was staggering.<\/p>\n

\u201cJason Taumalolo got that 10-year deal but $1 million a year back then was always going to be astronomical money. That was paying overs to get him for that long-term deal,\u201d Graham said. <\/p>\n

Kiwis survive almighty Fiji scare | 00:48<\/p>\n

David Fifita, meanwhile, was lured away from the Broncos to the Titans in 2020 on a three-year deal worth more than $3 million and struggled with indifferent form.<\/p>\n

But Graham is backing the huge price tag attached to Willison, who is currently in the New Zealand squad at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is unders to get him on that four-year deal. And it\u2019s not even due to the threat of PNG, Perth, or a 20th team coming in,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is other clubs saying \u2018we\u2019ll give you a 25 per cent increase on that, we\u2019ll go to $1.25 million to bring you to the club to be our alpha in your absolute peak years\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PNG Chiefs loom as Brisbane\u2019s biggest threat. <\/p>\n

If the Chiefs offer Willison the same as the Broncos he will earn an extra $560,000 a season thanks to the tax-free breaks offered in PNG.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former England Test forward James Graham has labelled a $1 million per season contract for Xavier Willison a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":933360,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-933359","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\/933359","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=933359"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/933359\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/933360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=933359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=933359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=933359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}