Jul 26th, 2019

Jul 26th, 2019

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns has urged the Brisbane Broncos to think about making a play for star playmaker Kieran Foran as the Bulldogs attempt to get the Kiwi international's inflated salary off their books.

Foran was once considered to be in the very top bracket of NRL halves but his reputation has been significantly dented by four seasons where his football has been overshadowed by chronic injuries and off-field issues.

Despite a dramatic slide down the NRL's playmaking pecking order, Foran is on one of the game's most handsome salaries thanks to a generous back-ended deal that reunited him with the coach he won a premiership with in 2011, Des Hasler.

Bulldogs to offload Kieran Foran

According to reports, Foran will be paid $1.2 million in the last year of his deal with the Bulldogs next season, a salary that is seen as so prohibitive for Canterbury that they are reportedly willing to pay as much as $500,000 of it if they can sell him to a rival club.

While the Broncos would seem an unlikely suitor, especially as they already have a million dollar playmaker in the younger Anthony Milford, Johns told Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour that a fit Foran would instantly make Anthony Seibold's side better.

"I think with the right players around him and especially the right edge forwards, I've watched him closely, this year especially, and a lot of times he's going to the line but the players outside him aren't complementing what he's doing," Johns said.

"If he went to a club with a really strong forward pack I think he'd play well, which points to the Brisbane Broncos, I think he'd be a great fit up there.

"I think if Kieran went to Brisbane he'd add a lot to the Broncos team."

At this stage Johns' observation is nothing more than that. It would take a decision from the Broncos to move some significant pieces before it could move beyond that.

However, what shouldn't be glossed over is the fact that Milford has recently been moved to fullback by Seibold in an effort to get the best out of his running game and to move out of form veteran Darius Boyd away from a position where he's looked vulnerable defending one-on-one situations this season.

Milford at fullback is a no-brainer: Fast 5

Despite taking the Broncos to a grand final appearance alongside Ben Hunt in his first season at the club in 2015, Milford has struggled to justify his hefty price tag in the club's famous No.6 jersey.

His game is built on flashes of individual brilliance but he has never really convinced as a game manager, an area in which an in-form Foran would be a significant upgrade.

Which brings us back to Boyd. Already 32, the club captain has one more season to run on a deal worth $800,000-a-season plus an option in his favour to play on in 2021.

But so poor has his form been at various stages this season, there have been suggestions that he should retire early before he tarnishes a magnificent legacy.

That talk has cooled over the last month but should it ramp up again over the next seven weeks and Boyd is convinced to end his career early, the Broncos would all of a sudden be in a position to pay Foran the $700,000 needed to make up the shortfall assuming the Bulldogs agreed to pay $500,000 of next year's contract.

With a strong forward pack to play behind, a spine comprising of Milford at fullback, Foran at five-eighth, promising young halfback Tom Dearden and either Andrew McCullough or Jake Turpin at hooker, all of a sudden the Broncos could rocket back into contention.

But would the 29-year-old Foran be worth a $700,000 punt even if the other moving parts in this scenario fit together?

"Depends on his fitness," added Johns. "There's not many halves around, so that's the thing, that's why they're getting so much money. But at the moment Kieran isn't playing like a $1.2 million player..."

Lockyer: Boyd's days at fullback are over

Equally, according to Johns, another out-of-favour half isn't worth the money on his contract, with the legendary halfback saying Josh Reynolds' future in the NRL might depend on a move for Foran.

According to Johns, Canterbury is the most logical destination for the Wests Tigers five-eighth but not at his current price tag in the ball park of $900,000-a-season.

"It depends what happens to Kieran," Johns said when asked where Reynolds would fit best.

"It would be a perfect fit for Josh to go back to the Bulldogs, he was born in that area, he's a local junior, but I think a lot of clubs would be baulking at that price tag."