Warriors chief executive Jim Doyle is adamant Kieran Foran has yet to sign with Canterbury after Bulldogs counterpart Raelene Castle told him as much late on Thursday night.

Doyle says Castle denied reports Foran agreed to move to Belmore when his contract expires at the end of the season. Wests Tigers skipper Aaron Woods is also believed to be heading to the Bulldogs, however Doyle squashed suggestions Foran is certain to depart.

“I got a text message from the Bulldogs CEO after midnight last night saying, ‘Despite what’s on the back page of the newspaper, we’ve got no agreement with Kieran. We’ve got no contract with Kieran Foran’,” Doyle said on Friday.

“He may go back to Sydney and he may still stay here. He’s obviously finding it very difficult to make a decision because his kids are there. But at this point in time, he’s still working through that. He wants to focus on playing really good football for the club and helping the club.”

However Doyle did suggest the player market is now set to find some traction after the NRL had finally given clubs a temporary salary cap figure for next season. The cap is currently at $7 million this year, however the governing body and players’ union are still in negotiations over the future number as part of their ongoing collective bargaining talks.

Doyle claims the uncertainty of the final cap figure is the primary catalyst to the increased speculation around the transfer market. “Players and player managers who sign contracts didn’t want to commit beyond 2017 because no one knew what the cap was going to be,” he said.

“The NRL came out last night and have said to all the clubs, here’s a number that you now have to use for the salary cap, so for the first time we’ve got clarity from them. Whether that’s the final number or not, who knows? But they’ve given us some clarity so we’ll be able to start locking in contracts for some players.”

One of those players could be star halfback Shaun Johnson, who comes off-contract at the end of the season and is believed to have attracted interest from rivals clubs. “I spent time with Shaun yesterday, I met with his manager this week. We’re pretty close. Shaun obviously wants to get success and he wants to help this club get success,” Doyle said.

Meanwhile, Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has all but accepted Mitchell Moses won’t be part of the Eels 2017 premiership campaign. Widely tipped to join Parramatta this week, Moses is set to play in the Wests Tigers’ clash against Canterbury on Sunday and remain at Concord until the end of the year.

“Mitchell Moses is a Wests Tigers player,” Arthur said ahead of the Eels’ match against Penrith. “Whatever happens there is their decision. All we can worry about is us trying to back up last week’s win and go from there.”

Arthur denied he had planned on Moses’ immediate inclusion following the Eels’ win over the Tigers last week after the five-eighth requested a mid-season release. The Tigers rejected the move at a board meeting with coach Ivan Cleary on Tuesday night. Arthur is backing his roster until Moses arrives next season.

“I’ve made the mistake of that in the past, thinking about what might be. We can only worry about what is,” Arthur said. “I’ve left it with our management and their management. We’re very happy with the team we’ve got that can get the job done.”

Stand-in five-eighth Brad Takairangi will wear the No6 jumper against the Panthers as the club waits on fullback Bevan French to recover from a knee injury. Clint Gutherson will play at the back before reverting to the halves when French’s return. “You’ve got to try and prepare for these situations because of the way the salary cap is, you can’t stockpile quality halves,” Arthur said.

Arthur said Takairangi’s versatility couldn’t be underestimated. “He’s a five-eighth this week and if we get a few back on deck the following week there might be some changes,” Arthur said.

The tenth-placed Eels take on a Panthers outfit staring down the barrel of four-straight defeats and looking a shadow of the side tipped as premiership favourites at the start of the season. However Arthur is remains on high alert of for bounce-back effort from a side boosted by the return of second-rower Bryce Cartwright.