Canterbury Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould has revealed a player swap may be how Alex Twal leaves the Wests Tigers in 2024.

Twal has a year to run on his contract at the Tigers, but it has emerged recently that the club is willing to let him move on.

It comes as Benji Marshall looks to rejuvenate and reinvigorate the Tigers, with the recently completed 2023 season bringing about a second straight wooden spoon.

The Tigers have already confirmed the arrivals of Latu Fainu, Samuela Fainu, Aidan Sezer and Jayden Sullivan, while a host of players will exit, with Luke Brooks, Tommy Talau and another forward in Aitasi James all joining the Manly Sea Eagles, while Daine Laurie is off to the Penrith Panthers.

There is a feeling that Twal leaving will open the door for the forward paying of 2025 salary, or an unlikely addition for 2024. Whichever way it works, it would benefit the Tigers in the long run, with Twal likely to be bumped down the queue this year as the joint-venture continues to benefit from the emergence of young guns.

Twal was immediately linked to the Manly Sea Eagles following the speculation that he was being shopped for an immediate exit, while the Canterbury Bulldogs were also believed to be interest.

Speaking on the Six Tackles with Gus podcast, the director of football said Manly and the Tigers were discussing a trade.

"I think Manly and the Tigers are discussing perhaps a trade, or a swap, with Alex," Gould said on the Wide World of Sports show.

"We'll know more next week what his intentions are, and we've got to decide whether that's right for us as well.

"Alex has to decide whether that's right for him."

Who the player moving from Manly to the Tigers is remains to be seen, and is unclear with no obvious option in the Manly squad.

Gould revealed Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo had spoken with Twal regarding a possible move to Belmore with "very little" on the open player market for 2024.

"Our coach spoke to him this week," Gould confirmed.

"There's very, very little out there on the market, so I guess when a player like that comes on the market you've got to do your due diligence and have a chat, so the coach went and had a chat this week.

"In a world with mobile phones and cameras, someone had to take a photo of it and send it to the media."