His form has been sensational and he’s become a key component of the Sydney Roosters’ finals charge, but controversial prop Matt Lodge knows he could still be forced to leave his new club by salary cap pressures.
Lodge is contracted to the Roosters for the rest of the year following a mid-season switch from the Warriors, but with a number of star players including James Tedesco on hefty pay packets, plus the impending arrival of Brandon Smith and contract talks for young half Sam Walker, there might not be room in the budget to retain the 27-year-old.
Lodge has been superb for the club, performing excellently along Jared Waerea-Hargreaves as the perfect replacement for Lindsay Collins.
“Obviously every team plans their salary cap ahead and I was probably… no one knew I was going to end up here or fit in, I’m not sure (the Roosters) planned for it,” Lodge told The Daily Telegraph.
“Hopefully some room comes. I haven’t sorted anything out yet so I’ll just keep playing hard and hopefully find a way into the squad.
As well as the high-profile pay packets currently on the books, it’s believed the Roosters are also waiting for next year’s salary cap to be determined by the NRL and RLPA as part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
No matter the result, Lodge is happy where he is and would prefer to stay. “
“I don’t like bouncing around (between) clubs,” Lodge said.
“I did a full stint with the Broncos and then went to the Warriors, but it didn’t work out.
“When I quit there, I didn’t want to organize a deal that matched (the Warriors) or take the first thing possible, because I didn’t want to just go somewhere and then go down again.”
Lodge also admitted his regret about not coming to the club sooner, selecting Melbourne over Bondi for his first contract straight out of high school – and then picking Brisbane over Bondi when he returned to the game in 2018.
“It’s been four or five years in the making, coming here. I always had that regret about not coming here, but it finally happened.”
