NSW Waratahs player Kurtley Beale continues to field off rumours that he will be making a move to the NRL, while Waratahs coach Michael Cheika says negotiations to keep Beale in Union are progressing well.
Beale has been linked with NRL club Canterbury Bulldogs to help fill a fullback void in their team next year. Beale played rugby league as a junior and is off-contract with the Waratahs at the end of this season.
Reports the AFP, Cheika has said the negotiations between Beale and Australian Rugby Union are “headed in the right direction” but declined to make any definitive statements. “I’m never comfortable with any signatures until they’re on the paper, and even then you have to worry sometimes,” he said.
“I’m clear on how the negotiation [between Beale and the ARU] works, so I’m leaving them to it and getting on with coaching the team.” Yesterday Bulldogs coach Des Hasler distanced himself from reports that he was considering signing Beale after he was spotted at a Waratahs game.
“You can’t go to the rugby these days and enjoy a game of rugby, can you?,” Hasler said. “I haven’t spoken to any Waratahs players full stop. Full stop.” Beale has been quoted as expressing interest in the move, saying last month that he while he’s keen to play for the Wallabies in next year’s World Cup he is determined to look after his own interests.
“There are a lot of players in front of me at the moment and I have to weigh up my options,” he said. “I know where I’m at rugby-wise, but if they [ARU] see it differently then that’s when I have to start to look at the other options that I have.”
Canterbury back-rower Tony Williams told Fairfax Media Beale would fit seamlessly into the League back row. “He is a freak of a player. He has played at the highest level in rugby,” he said. “I haven’t spoken to him. What I’ve seen in the media, he is pretty keen to come to this code. If he is willing to come over here, he’ll do a good job.”
