{"id":799211,"date":"2026-10-11T14:32:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/799211\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T14:32:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T14:32:16","slug":"nrl-man-to-proceed-with-st-helens-negotiations-as-head-coach-green-lights-transfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/799211\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL man to \u2018proceed with St Helens negotiations\u2019 as head coach green lights transfer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

St Helens\u2019 target Tom Starling is free to negotiate with the Super League club, according to his Canberra Raiders head coach Ricky Stuart, with a deal expected to be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

It was reported in late September that Saints were pursuing Starling with reports from down under even suggesting that a three-year deal had been inked<\/a>, but Starling\u2019s NRL head coach Ricky Stuart has now provided a fresh update.<\/p>\n

Stuart has explained that the club wanted to hold off any approving any Starling exit until after the Australian Prime Minister\u2019s XIII game last weekend, in which their starting hooker Owen Pattie was playing.<\/p>\n

Pattie came through that game unscathed and that\u2019s seen Stuart indicate that Starling is free to \u2018proceed with his St Helens negotiations\u2019, according to reports from The Canberra Times.<\/p>\n

With Pattie unscathed from his latest outing, Stuart explained: \u201cTommy\u2019s got the all clear to proceed with his St Helens negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cTommy and I had a really mature conversation about exactly where he stood and I totally understand his position, Tommy has a career to run as well and he had an opportunity with St Helens and he totally understands where Owen Pattie is at.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Cup Squad reaction as Connor snubbed, Lewis picked, and will London be in Super League 2027?\u00a0\u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League show<\/a><\/p>\n

Most Read on Serious About Rugby League<\/p>\n

Tom Starling closes in on St Helens switch<\/p>\n

Starling is a 156-game NRL veteran and will provide very experienced support to Daryl Clark out of nine, however, he will also become the club\u2019s 11th overseas quota player<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That will create a headache and signal that one of those contracted players will have to depart with Starling\u2019s move all but confirmed. The hooker even teased the move recently by sharing an Instagram story with \u2018Annie\u2019s Song\u2019, the Saints\u2019 anthem, playing.<\/p>\n

Continuing to explain Starling\u2019s move, Stuart said: \u201cWhen Tom confronted me about the opportunity with St Helens, I totally get it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s still young enough to be playing for a number of years still and he\u2019s got a good opportunity with the Super League instead of sitting back here behind Owen. I can keep him for depth but it\u2019s the wrong thing to do by the individual.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a lot for the club and it\u2019s our time now to give Tommy that opportunity to keep his career alive and healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens\u2019 target Tom Starling is free to negotiate with the Super League club, according to his Canberra…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":799212,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-799211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799211","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=799211"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/799211\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/799212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=799211"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=799211"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=799211"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}