Money and contract value has been revealed as the major sticking point around the future of Brisbane Broncos dummy half Billy Walters.
Brisbane have been in tense negotiations with Walters for some weeks now, with the club aiming to lock down his services despite already having four dummy halves on the books for 2027.
The Broncos have Blake Mozer, Cameron Bukowski, Cory Paix and Ben Hunt as options for the number nine role, but Walters is viewed as the best of all of them, and, despite spending much of this year sidelined as he recovers from an ACL injury, the club are keen on retaining him.
A two-year contract offer is understood to have been table in his direction, but it's yet to be agreed to, with journalist Travis Meyn telling SEN Radio that the sticking point is money.
“The Billy Walters thing just hasn't resolved itself yet,” Meyn told SENQ Breakfast.
“The Broncos have made him an offer. He's desperate to stay there, he loves the club, he doesn't want to go anywhere.
“But they just haven't been able to get his signature over the line. There's been some toing and froing around terms of money and the like."
It's little surprise to see that being the reason, with Brisbane's salary cap stretched.
Despite the loss of Payne Haas to the South Sydney Rabbitohs at the end of this year, the club are in negotiations to extend Xavier Willison, and have big money locked away into the future for the likes of Reece Walsh, Kotoni Staggs, Ezra Mam and Patrick Carrigan among others.
The delay in Walters re-signing has led the Gold Coast Titans to believe they are a chance, with the Queensland rivals monitoring the situation of the experienced hooker who can also play in the halves, and did so during Brisbane's run to the finals last year before injuring his knee against the Canberra Raiders in a qualifying final.
Despite that, Meyn said Walters' priority is to re-sign with the Broncos.
"Billy could really add something to the Titans, but I rang him last week and said, ‘What's going on?'" Meyn revealed.
“He said, ‘Oh, I just really want to get a deal done here at Brisbane'.
“So, I wouldn't be surprised if he left. But in the NRL, I'll never rule anything out.”
The Titans will let Sam Verrills leave at the end of the year, with Oliver Pascoe becoming their first-choice dummy half this year.
Brisbane still have a number of spots to fill in their roster for 2027, although it's likely most will go to players on the lower end of the salary cap.
