Phil Gould failed to lure Papenhuyzen to the Bulldogs. It hasn’t stopped an unlikely friendship

1 week ago 5

Ryan Papenhuyzen says he is open to joining breakaway rugby union competition R360, while revealing the friendship he has developed with Bulldogs general manager Phil Gould despite their failed contract talks last year.

The 27-year-old was back to his attacking best against Cronulla in Melbourne’s 22-14 preliminary final win, and even survived an injury scare to his shoulder, which will not keep him out of Sunday’s NRL decider against Brisbane.

While Papenhuyzen’s sole focus is adding another premiership ring to the one he won in 2020, he is also aware of the interest bubbling away in the background about a potential switch to R360, the breakaway rugby competition being led by England World Cup winner Mike Tindall, and slated to kick off in October next year.

Player agents have been informed they will know more this week about whether R360 has secured the financial backing to make it a long-term viable option for players such as Papenhuyzen and other targets, including South Sydney’s Jye Gray and Parramatta’s Zac Lomax.

Several NRL club bosses are clearly concerned and raised the matter again with the NRL late last week.

Papenhuyzen was a handy fullback and No.10 in rugby union at high school, and having dealt with his share of serious injuries and head knocks, says it makes sense to entertain all options.

Ryan Papenhuyzen scores a crucial try in Friday night’s preliminary final win over the Sharks.

“I’m open to anything really,” he said. “You don’t know when your last game will be – my last game could be this weekend. You need to keep that perspective on things.

“For what I’ve had to go through, I know how close it is sometimes to it being the end.

“I don’t know too much more about [R360]. You can attach yourself to something, but what if it doesn’t happen?

“I’ve always heard people say, play every game like it’s your last, and I reckon that’s resonated with me. I took that mentality into the Sharks game [Friday’s preliminary final], I’ll take it into the Broncos game, and whatever happens after that, we’ll see.”

This time last year Papenhuyzen’s future was also a hot topic after Gould met with the Sydney-raised fullback on several occasions.

Ryan Papenhuyzen says he would be mad not to entertain an offer to join a rival code, given his serious injury history.

Papenhuyzen told Gould “unfinished business” with the Storm was the main reason he passed on the opportunity to join the Bulldogs, but said “I feel like Gus will be a guy I’ll always be in contact with”, and “I respect what he’s done in the game”.

“It’s nice to be wanted,” Papenhuyzen said. “Gus was very impressive. We had a lot of great chats, not even about footy, but about golf, about books.

“Canterbury were the team I went for as a kid. But at the end of the day, there was that overarching feeling we were building something special here at the Storm as a group, and I want to be able to see that out.”

Papenhuyzen said the Storm had learnt valuable lessons about how to better handle grand final week, including all the fan and media commitments, something they were largely spared due to COVID restrictions before they took out the 2020 premiership.

“We’ve just got to enjoy the week a bit more and see it for what it is,” Papenhuyzen said. “You get to play in a grand final, it’s a special achievement.”

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