The Cronulla Sharks are reportedly ready to negotiate a contract extension with half Matt Moylan.
The five-eighth, who won the race for the vacant number six jersey in the team next to Nicho Hynes at the start of the season, has had a strong start to 2022.
He was only retained by the club at the back end of last year on a cut-price, one-year deal, with the club unsure on their long-term vision for the now 30-year-old, who has 153 NRL games under his belt.
Moylan only managed 15 games last year, eight in 2020, and 11 in 2019 in what has been a wretched spell with the Sharks thanks to injury and form.
He has proven his worth early this season, with he and Hynes steering the Sharks to four wins from six games, Moylan himself running for 84 metres per game and adding a pair of try assists.
Once a marquee signing from the Penrith Panthers at the end of the 2017 season, Moylan has only managed one full season worth of games with Cronulla in 2018, and The Daily Telegraph's Phil Rothfield told Fox Sports' NRL 360 that the club are now ready to talk about an extension.
“Interesting with Moylan, they only signed him for one year because they weren’t convinced in the off-season that his head was right, that he was putting in to justify his salary,” Rothfield said.
“But Fitzy [Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon] said, and I spoke to him this afternoon, they’re ready to talk again.
“He’s shown them enough in six weeks that Fitzy wants to sit down and talk next year.”
Moylan has been named again for the Round 7 clash with the Manly Sea Eagles, with Braydon Trindall relegated to a bench role thus far, and young gun Luke Metcalf - who is bound for the New Zealand Warriors in 2023 - unable to get a look in thus far.
It's unclear what the extension would look like at this stage, however, Moylan has shown no desire to leave the Sharks after signing the one-year deal to keep him in the Shire for 2022.
Too early to be talking about 2023. Matt Moyland’s problems over his time at the Sharks have primarily been injuries, not loss of form or poor attitude. We’re only 25% into the season. Wait until the season is 75% complete, then see how well his body is holding up before thinking about next season.