The Melbourne Storm have reportedly kicked off negotiations with four stars all due to be off-contract at the end of next season.
All of Ryan Papenhuyzen, Harry Grant, Xavier Coates and Jahrome Hughes will be free to negotiate with rival clubs from November 1 if still unsigned, but the Victorian-based outfit are taking steps to ensure that won't be the case.
Players off-contract at the end of 2026 and 2027 are going to be particularly susceptible to poaching raids, with the Perth Bears to enter the competition in 2027, and the PNG-based side in 2028.
Both of those sides will need to sign 30 players in the 12 months leading up to the commencements of their first pre-season, and the Storm will want to ensure they don't become a target again after the Dolphins poached a number of their star players ahead of the 2023 season when they entered the competition as team number 17.
News Corp are reporting the retention raid could total $10 million once it's all said and done, with it one of the richest in the game's history.
The Storm's salary cap will be a concern throughout the process, with it already stretched, but the Victorian-based outfit have become masterful in top loading their squad without sacrificing their depth.
As it stands, the quartet also have Shawn Blore, Nick Meaney, Josiah Pahulu, Will Warbrick and Tyran Wishart off-contract at the end of next season.
The news of negotiations kicking off with the quartet - Melbourne reportedly met with Hughes' management last week - will however be unsettling to the future of the club.
Jonah Pezet and Sua Fa'alogo reportedly either have clauses, or handshake agreements in place, that if Jahrome Hughes or Ryan Papenhuyzen are re-signed respectively beyond the end of their current deals, that they will be allowed to effectively become free agents at the end of next season, and negotiate with other clubs.
If Hughes and Papenhuyzen are re-signed, then the duo could both end up on the open market and kick off something of a feeding frenzy between expansion outfits and current rival clubs.
Both were linked with rival clubs before they made the call to re-sign last time, with Pezet in particular apparently in the sights of the Newcastle Knights, who have since signed Dylan Brown.
