SAINTS have declined to comment on Australian newspaper reports linking scrum half Lewis Dodd with a move to NRL side Sydney Rabbitohs.
It is the standard club response to discussion and speculation on potential player departures.
The Daily Telegraph in Australia today report that the 22-year-old half back is on the verge of agreeing a three/four-year deal with the Souths from the 2025 season.
Dodd first caught the eye of the NRL scouts when he plundered the Golden Point winner over Penrith Panthers in the 2023 World Club Challenge.
He signed a four-year contract with Saints two years ago, but that was split into a two plus two with the final two-year option in the player’s favour.
That leaves Dodd free to field offers from May 1 should he not wish to take that option with the club.
Dodd has been missing for the past two games with groin and rib injuries, with the former picked up at Leeds earlier this year.
The former Halton Farnworth Hornets junior is a product of the Saints Academy and replaced Theo Fages as Saints’ number 7 midway through the 2021 season.
He played in that year’s Grand Final and there were high hopes that he and Jack Welsby would be pivotal in taking the team forward.
However, he suffered a torn Achilles on Good Friday wrecked his 2022 season, and he has had to battle back from that significant injury and has not been without his critics.
In the last two weeks – with Dodd injured – Saints have gone with a combination of Jonny Lomax and Jack Welsby or Moses Mbye and Lomax in the halves.
If Dodd were to leave at the end of the year it would add to Saints’ rebuilding job for next term and would leave them seeking either another half or full back – depending on where they see Welsby’s positional future.