The Canterbury Bulldogs are one step closer to breathing an enormous sigh of relief, with second-row star Jacob Preston set to sign a new deal.
It was initially reported earlier this year that Preston and the Bulldogs had entered a contract standoff.
It was believed the Bulldogs had a certain contract value in mind that was well below what Preston was after, and it was tipped the two parties would struggle to reach anything bordering on an agreement before November 1 rolled around.
Preston, off-contract on November 1, would attract an enormous amount of interest if he made it to the open market, with plenty of clubs potentially in the market for second-row options.
News Corp are reporting he won't get there though, with the Bulldogs and his management in the process of working out a deal that is expected to be done potentially by the end of the season.
While it's unclear exactly how long the deal will be for, or what it will be worth, it will certainly be an upgrade on his last deal.
The Bulldogs star, who joined the club as a relative unknown but burst onto the scene and hasn't looked back, likely would have made his NSW Blues debut this year had it not been for injury.
He will almost certainly be in the mix for the Australian Kangaroos squad too as they prepare to defend the Rugby League World Cup in October and November on home soil.
All up, Preston has played 74 NRL games, scoring 29 tries, with 14 of those games coming this year.
In those contests, he has managed 5 tries, 11 line breaks, 93 metres per game, 7 offloads and is tackling at almost 95 per cent, making him one of the competition's best edge defenders.
The Bulldogs have plenty of questions surrounding their salary cap, but Preston was the non-negotiable.
They have also re-signed Viliame Kikau through to the end of 2028, giving them a power packed second-row combination, with the club now set to turn attention to the still off-contract this year Kurt Mann among others, before the run to November 1 could see calls made on Matt Burton, Max King, Jaeman Salmon and MItchell Woods who are all off-contract at the end of 2027.
