{"id":958639,"date":"2026-11-09T22:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T22:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958639\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T22:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T22:14:14","slug":"nrl-news-2026-rabbitohs-linked-with-sam-walker-campbell-graham-comments-sydney-roosters-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/958639\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Rabbitohs linked with Sam Walker, Campbell Graham comments, Sydney Roosters exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rabbitohs<\/a> star Campbell Graham has welcomed the club\u2019s pursuit of Sam Walker<\/a>, as another chapter in rugby league\u2019s Book of Feuds<\/a> looms large.<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s contract situation has been one of the NRL\u2019s hottest topics since the Sydney Roosters pulled their offer for an extension last month<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Roosters halfback Sam Walker.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

The gun halfback, who won a premiership with the Tricolours this year, is now expected to depart Bondi \u2013 potentially as early as next season.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old has a year to run on his deal with the Roosters, but club officials are reportedly happy to let him walk out the door before that.<\/p>\n

While it would take some salary cap juggling or creative accounting to land Walker immediately, South Sydney have emerged as a genuine option.<\/p>\n

Wayne Bennett<\/a> initially went on the record to say Souths wouldn\u2019t be able to afford the No.7 unless they let other players go, but that stance may have shifted.<\/p>\n

News Corp reported on Monday that the halfback\u2019s management will meet with the Rabbitohs after the club were approached by a third party.<\/p>\n

Speaking on SEN Radio after the news broke, Graham \u2013 who has played his entire NRL career in red and green \u2013 said the in-demand Chooks star would \u201cfit in nicely\u201d at Souths and could form a lethal halves pairing with namesake Cody Walker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only heard about it as I was coming here to the studio,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty interesting stuff, obviously he\u2019s a great player and he just won a comp. I like the way he plays his footy, so I\u2019d like to have him on my team. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be pretty cool to see them together, they\u2019re both kind of ad-lib instinctive players. I think he could slot in nicely with our brand of attacking footy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s father Ben played two seasons with Souths in the mid-2000s, while his uncles Chris and Shane also represented the club. <\/p>\n

A potential move down Anzac Parade would set tongues wagging and add to the bitter history between the two proud foundation clubs.<\/p>\n

Latrell Mitchell<\/a> moved from the Roosters to Souths in 2020 and similar to Walker, it came just months after a premiership triumph. <\/p>\n

Angus Crichton<\/a> and Luke Keary<\/a> both moved from Redfern to Bondi and found enormous success in the red, white and blue jersey. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Angus Crichton and Sam Walker celebrate the 2026 premiership.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

While plenty would need to change on the Souths roster to accommodate Walker\u2019s asking price, superstar halfbacks don\u2019t exactly grow on trees.<\/p>\n

The club do have some flexibility in their roster for 2028 with the likes of Mitchell, Graham, Jack Wighton, David Fifita<\/a>, Euan Aitken and Jayden Sullivan unsigned.<\/p>\n

Bringing in a player of Walker\u2019s talent alongside the likes of Cameron Murray<\/a>, Payne Haas<\/a>, Tallis Duncan and potentially Mitchell, pending his own contract situation, would make the Bunnies a title contender for years to come.<\/p>\n

Souths are blessed with some quality rising stars including outside backs Talanoa Penitani and Dayne Jennings, as well as playmaker Taj Alvarez.<\/p>\n

Walker has also been linked with the PNG Chiefs<\/a> since the Roosters withdrew a deal worth an estimated $1.2 million per season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rabbitohs star Campbell Graham has welcomed the club\u2019s pursuit of Sam Walker, as another chapter in rugby league\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":958640,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-958639","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\/958639","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=958639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/958639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/958640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=958639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=958639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=958639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}