Cronulla Sharks star fullback William Kennedy is likely to be forced out of the club at the end of the 2025 season, with the revelation the club only have about $300,000 available in their salary cap to pay him.

Kennedy is off-contract at the end of the 2025 season, and one of the last key players to re-sign for the Shire-based side.

After shuffling their salary cap around ahead of 2025 to accomodate the arrival of Addin Fonua-Blake after his release from the New Zealand Warriors, the Sharks have also re-signed the likes of Thomas Hazelton, Cameron McInnes, Ronaldo Mulitalo, Briton Nikora, Braydon Trindall and Teig Wilton in recent times.

Some of that group have had major contract value upgrades.

It has sent their salary cap into meltdown, with News Corp reporting the club can only set aside around $300,000 for Kennedy, and as a result, are yet to table an offer to the fullback given it would likely be deemed offensive.

Kennedy is currently on around $500,000 per year, and would likely be in for an upgrade given his excellent form to start the 2025 season for the Shire-based outfit.

While the likes of Jayden Berrell, Billy Burns, the injured Kade Dykes, Mawene Hiroti and more importantly, young winger Sam Stonestreet, also all remain off-contract, the Sharks have eight places left to fill in their Top 30 for next year and can't afford to continue bumping up the offer for Kennedy.

One potential option is for the Sharks to offer Kennedy a heavily back-ended deal, but that in itself would cause salary cap problems down the track, and Kennedy would still be no guarantee to accept the offer.

What is a concern for Kennedy is whether other offers find their way to his table from around the competition.

While his desire is to stay at the Sharks, few other clubs are in the market for a first-choice fullback at this stage, which could leave Kennedy either on a cut price deal at the Sharks, or exploring his options overseas in the English Super League.

The Dally M leader, now 28 years of age, could also look to find a single year deal either in Australia or overseas, before exploring his options with the Perth Bears, who join the competition in 2027 and will be able to hit the open market with a blank cheque book from November 1 this year.

Kennedy has been able to negotiate with rival clubs since November 1 last year.