Bears table five-year, $6 million deal for Titan Jayden Campbell

3 months ago 7

The Perth Bears have tabled Gold Coast star Jayden Campbell a mammoth five-year, $6 million deal in a bid to make him their first marquee signing.

The Bears are desperate for a big name to commit to the new franchise after several obvious targets, including Parramatta’s Josh Addo-Carr and Melbourne’s Cameron Munster, recommitted to their current clubs. Another potential recruit – Storm, Maroons and Kangaroos hooker Harry Grant – is poised to extend his stay at Melbourne.

Campbell has been identified as a big-name signing and the Bears are confident he can become their first recruit of note. Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly have told this masthead the Bears have tabled an offer to Campbell that would make him one of the highest-paid players in the game.

The Titans remain hopeful of retaining Campbell, but won’t be able to offer him the amount of money he could earn in Western Australia. The son of legendary playmaker Preston Campbell can play at halfback, five-eighth and fullback, and the Bears are open-minded about what jersey he has on his back. That will ultimately be decided by how he could best complement the other players the club is able to sign.

Those close to Campbell feel the deal is too good to refuse and that next year will likely be his last on the glitter strip. Given he is just 25 years old and has already played 78 NRL games in key positions, Perth powerbrokers feel his best football is ahead of him.

It’s been more than a fortnight since the Bears have been able to negotiate with players, but they have yet to trumpet a single recruit. It’s unsurprising given that many of the game’s top players have been on Test duty or annual leave, and that most would avail themselves of the 10-day cooling-off period should they sign up to be part of coach Mal Meninga’s roster.

However, the club is keen for some positive signing news to announce, as it may help sway other prospective targets to commit.

The Bears feel that could come in the form of Campbell, who is open to the prospect of a fresh start after the Titans finished with the wooden spoon.

Perth’s head of recruitment, Dane Campbell, has previously stated he hopes to have 10 players signed by Christmas. It’s an ambitious goal for a start-up franchise that needs to sign 36 players before making their debut in 2027.

“At the end of the year there are always moving parts,” Campbell said last month.

“Once upon a time everyone would go on holidays in October, but the reality now is in the recruitment space and club land, there’s a lot of movement happening. There are new coaches coming in who will have opinions on certain players and they will want to rejig their rosters.

“There might be players who aren’t off contract per se who may be given permission to negotiate given the club’s current position, needs or they may jigsaw something themselves in terms of a cap perspective. There’s a lot of complexity to it, for sure.”