EMERGING stars Sione, Chanel and Pat Mata’utia walked into Newcastle CEO Matt Gidley’s office last Friday and told him they had signed with Canterbury.

It was the first Gidley knew of the Bulldogs’ secret deal to steal the brothers away from the Knights revealed for the first time by The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday.

BULLDOGS STEAL MATA’UTIA BROTHERS

“They were distraught about it,” Gidley claimed.

“We were having a chat about everything and then they just came out with: “We’ve signed something’.

“I’d been waiting for a reply from their manager to our most recent offer for them so it blindsided me a bit.”

media_camera Pat Mata'utia of the Knights in action.

The ‘something’ turned out to be a heads of agreement document from the Bulldogs that has been lodged with the NRL, detailing a four-year package deal for the brothers from 2016 after they come off contract in Newcastle.

It is believed to be worth $1.8 million alone for 18-year-old Sione.

Under the rules of the NRL, the Knights now have until round 13 next season to entice the brothers to stay in Newcastle and render the Dogs agreement null and void.

media_camera Sione Mata'Utia scores for the Knights.

Gidley is adamant they don’t want to go anywhere and says the club will do everything in its power to ensure they remain at the Knights.

“Once I told them about the rules and what they had signed is not binding until after round 13 next season, they were a lot more relaxed and relieved,” Gidley said.

“I’m going to meet with them tomorrow (Wednesday) directly without their manager just to see where they are at and what they want to do going forward.

media_camera Sione Mata'utia celebrates scoring.

“We’ll talk about the costs of living in Sydney away from family and friends and those sorts of things.

“They are great kids but they are impressionable. I don’t think they knew what they were signing or the ramifications.”

Gidley admitted negotiations with the brothers’ manager Chris Haddad had been difficult.

“I don’t want to get into a slanging match but I’ve had other club CEOs ask me why we don’t want to keep the boys. Of course we want to keep them,” he said.

media_camera Sione Mata' Utia scores for the Knights.

A guarded Haddad refused to even confirm the existence of the Canterbury deal, saying he was still negotiating with several clubs on behalf of the brothers.

“I’ll be giving Matt a ring on Tuesday next week to see if we can sort something out,” Haddad said.

Haddad denied speculation the brothers were looking to offload him as their manager.

“I have a good relationship with the boys,” he said.