MELBOURNE’S rivals continue to plunder Craig Bellamy’s prize-winning pack as Jordan McLean signs with North Queensland from 2018.

McLean has signed a lucrative multi-year deal with the Cowboys, with an announcement expected to be made next week once the NRL’s 10-day cooling off period expires.

The Storm’s only hope of hanging onto the big man is if he is persuaded to renege on the lucrative offer — understood to be either three or four years in length — but he is expected to follow Kiwi internationals Kevin Proctor (Titans) and Tohu Harris (signed with the Warriors for 2018) out of the southern capital at season’s end.

The club is hoping to land a retention blow of their own though, with Dale Finucane to make a decision on a four-year extension tabled by Melbourne next week.

Round 19

Finucane does however have plenty of interest in his services, having met with Knights coach Nathan Brown and toured the club’s facilities.

Ben Ikin, Nathan Ryan and Ben Glover are joined by Dragons recruitment boss Ian Millward to discuss the club’s recruitment plan and why it revolves around Ben Hunt.

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The Wests Tigers have also discussed terms with his management around a three-year deal for the 25-year-old.

At 196cm and 115 kilos, McLean has long been viewed as a custom-fit replacement for James Tamou by the Cowboys, who have been chasing the prop tipped for future NSW Origin honours since last year.

His arrival in North Queensland will help offset the void left by Tamou’s exit and Ben Hannant’s retirement, with talk from north of the border also suggesting the club will manage to retain co-captain Matt Scott.

The Knights again loom as the losers out of the NRL’s latest big man merry-go-round, with a handsome offer in the works to bring Scott to the Hunter.

But with the Cowboys improving their original offer, the 31-year-old is now favoured to reject the $800,000 a year Newcastle were prepared to offer him to mentor their young pack.

Cameron Smith, Dale Finucane and Jesse Bromwich celebrate a Storm try. Picture: Colleen Petch. Source: News Corp Australia

Finucane has also been identified by cashed up cellar dwellers Newcastle as a priority recruit, with the NRL stragglers willing to stump up the $650,000 asking price that was tipped to lure him from Melbourne.

Should the Storm retain the Country Origin forward, it would follow hot on the heels of Jesse Bromwich’s re-signing on a three-year deal this week, with an option for a following two seasons from 2020.

The Kiwi prop’s younger brother Kenny is also edging closer to re-signing with the club as well for another two years.

Also off-contract at Melbourne are highly rated big men Nelson Asofa-Solomona, Dean Britt, and Christian Welch — who has reportedly attracted interest from Brisbane.

As for Newcastle, the back-to-back wooden spooners are also eyeing Cronulla premiership-winning prop Matt Prior, as revealed this week by foxsports.com.au.

The Tigers are the other big movers in the forward market, targeting Titans back-rower Chris McQueen with a lucrative $1.2 million, three-year deal.

The joint-venture has also expressed an interest in Roosters man mountain Kane Evans.

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