CANTERBURY are eyeing off a certain big name fullback for 2018.

Meanwhile, Roosters star Blake Ferguson has a new nickname, and why James Segeyaro’s Cronulla deal has been delayed.

Catch all this and more in The Mail, James Hooper’s new weekly column.

SOUTHS SLOG IT OUT

Round 19

THE South Sydney Rabbitohs are currently embarking on an army-style boot camp at renowned rugby league nursery St Gregory’s at Campbelltown.

The Bunnies have been sleeping in dorms at the western Sydney secondary college since Monday, where the likes of Jack Gibson, Trent Barrett, James Tedesco and Eric Grothe Jnr once called home.

South Sydney aren’t the only club to have engaged in the traditional pre-season boot camp, with archrivals the Sydney Roosters venturing across the Tasman to picturesque Queenstown in New Zealand for four days of torturous activities.

Penrith also ventured to Port Macquarie on the NSW north coast this week, where they have been training ahead of attending a testimonial lunch at Panthers Port Macquarie.

FERGO’S NEW NICKNAME

STILL at the Roosters and Blake Ferguson has been hit with the new nickname “Harry” since returning from the Kangaroos successful Four Nations tour of the UK.

Ferguson was awarded the prestigious Harry Sunderland medal as the Kangaroos best and fairest player.

While his Tricolours teammates are enjoying winding him up, the award is a wonderful individual accolade for the Sydney Roosters centre.

Blake Ferguson had a stellar Four Nations campaign. Source: Getty Images

MAL PROVES A HIT

PLAYERS from the 24-man Four Nations tour of the UK reckon Mal Meninga is a supercoach for the tight-knit bond he has quickly forged among the current group of green and gold representative stars.

Forget the divided lines of previous camps where there was genuine tension between rival Queensland and NSW players, the Tour at the end of last year was one of the best and a huge part of the credit must go to Meninga.

Big Mal has quickly instilled a one-in-all-in mentality and the results where there for all to see.

One of the highlights of the tour was a trip to Barcelona for the majority of the squad.

Australian Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga. Source: Getty Images

SHANNON THE SHEARER

LAST season was a breakout year for Raiders front-rower Shannon Boyd, the 122kg monster who forced his way into the Australian squad for the Four Nations.

Boyd, a proud bushie who hails from Cowra in the central west of NSW, returned to the family farm after the tour where he kept fit by working in the sheering sheds before Christmas.

BULLDOGS CHASE GUN NO.1

WESTS Tigers superstar James Tedesco has been strongly linked to the Sydney Roosters but we keep hearing the Bulldogs are considering making a major play to lure the NSW Origin

fullback away from Concord.

Tedesco is expected to be able to command upwards of $1.1 million-a-season, meaning he will join Johnathan Thurston, Sam Burgess and Daly Cherry-Evans among the NRL’s best paid players.

James Tedesco at Tigers training. Picture: Gregg Porteous Source: News Corp Australia

We’ve even heard Canterbury-Bankstown could also make a play for two of his Tigers teammates in Aaron Woods and Mitchell Moses.

The Bulldogs have the perfect go-between in Woods’s NSW Origin and Australian front-row partner in crime David Klemmer.

SHARKS MOVE ON GRAHAM

PREMIERS Cronulla have tabled captain-in-waiting Wade Graham a new three-year deal which would tie him to the club until the end of 2020.

Over the past two seasons Graham has developed into one of the NRL’s most gifted ball-playing backrowers.

The Gold Coast Titans are also in talks about extending the contract of hooker Nathan Peats.

This season shapes as a monumental one for the tough No.9, who could force his way into the NSW Origin side with a powerful start to the year.

Wade Graham holds the premiership trophy after winning the 2016 NRL Grand Final. Picture: Brett Costello Source: News Corp Australia

GRANVILLE, HUNT TO TIE THE KNOT

THIS one’s a great example of the six degrees of separation which often runs deep in rugby league.

Congratulations to North Queensland Cowboys hooker Jake Granville, who has recently become engaged to Zoe Hunt, the sister of Brisbane Broncos halfback Ben Hunt.

Granville and Ben Hunt played together at the Broncos in 2013-14 before the hooker opted to have a crack elsewhere with Wynnum Manly in the Brisbane competition.

CHICKO’S DEAL STALLED

CRONULLA has signed hooker James Segeyaro but the NRL is refusing to register the contract because of his dispute with UK Super League club Leeds.

Hopefully common sense prevails and the cultfigure known as “Chicko” is welcomed back into the NRL sooner rather than later.

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