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Wests Tigers are backing themselves to re-sign Jahream Bula before the season kicks off.
The Tigers launched their campaign on Thursday afternoon at the club’s Concord headquarters, and sources with knowledge of the negotiations not authorised to speak publicly said Bula was close to signing a fresh deal.
Wests Tigers are confident they are close to re-signing star fullback Jahream Bula.Credit: NRL Photos
The fullback has a mutual option for 2027. If the Tigers decide to exercise the option, Bula will play the 2027 season on a salary of $900,000. If the Tigers decide against retaining Bula at that price, he has the opportunity of taking up a player option at $800,000.
The main stumbling block has been the length of Bula’s deal. The Tigers have already presented two options – two-year and four-year extensions – which would keep him at Concord until the end of 2029 or 2031.
The same sources confirmed the respective deals averaged out at a little less than $1 million a season.
Forward Jack Bird is hoping to seek an immediate release – his preference is to move to the English Super League – which would allow the club to use some of the money to front load a couple of contracts for the 2027 season.
Could former teammates Lachie Galvin (right) and Jahream Bula reunite at Canterbury?Credit: Getty Images
Bula is one of the most exciting players to come through the Tigers in a decade, and said more than once how he is keen to pledge his future to the club.
Canterbury have been linked to Bula because of his close friendship with former Tiger Lachie Galvin, and with their own fullback, Connor Tracey, unsigned beyond this year.
The Tigers have recruited well for next season: towering English back-rower Kai Pearce-Paul looks right at home on the right edge, while New Zealand Warriors favourite Bunty Afoa has made an immediate impression in the middle.
Taylan May has benefited from a full pre-season, while Jeral Skelton and Heamasi Makasini are in a pre-season shootout to decide who plays outside May on the left wing. Jock Madden has also impressed when calling the shots for the reserve side during opposed sessions.
Tigers fans started dreaming about being a “mathematical” finals chance when they led the Cowboys 28-16 with 15 minutes remaining in round 25, only to lose, then eventually drop games to Canberra and the Gold Coast.
Coach Benji Marshall told sponsors and supporters at Thursday’s launch: “Preparations for this season coming started in September. It started with brutal honesty … total transparency and clarity around sacrifice and preparation that was going to be needed, and also the standards and expectations we were going to accept, could not have been made any clearer.
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“Off the back of that you can make two decisions: you can acknowledge it and do something about it, or dwell on it and stay the same.
“I can honestly say this playing group are built different this year. The sacrifice and buy-in I’ve seen since the first week of November, all the way through to now, with countless fitness, weight and contact sessions … as a coach I couldn’t be happier with the effort and application our team has shown.”
Among the guests at the Tigers’ launch was Dennis Burgess, the Holman Barnes Group chairman who stood down from the Wests Tigers’ board before Christmas.
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