Parramatta star Dylan Brown has assured fans to not stress over future clauses in his contract, while teammate Bryce Cartwright has made it clear he wants to stay at the Eels despite not hearing anything from incoming coach Jason Ryles.
Cartwright signed an extension last season to remain at the Eels until the end of 2025, but he is one of several players who have reportedly been told that they can look elsewhere for more job security.
Former coach Brad Arthur saved the edge forward’s career, with Cartwright playing the best footy of his life at Parramatta, but his future remains up in the air, with Ryles yet to contact him.
“It’s not surprising (that he hasn’t called), he’ll call me if he needs me,” Cartwright said.
“I love it here and love the group. I don’t know what’s going to happen next year, I haven’t had any contact.
“But we’re just trying to improve ourselves through these last six games.
“It’s obviously frustrating … but we can’t worry about next year or tomorrow, we want to finish the year strongly.”
Meanwhile, Brown explained why he signed a deal that features get-out clauses, with the five-eighth technically a free agent on November 1 unless he decides to trigger the next stage of his contract.
Brown is signed through to the end of 2025 but has the power to remain at the Eels until 2031, with rival clubs set to circle if he doesn’t sort out his future in the coming months.
“We signed a long contract for security reasons,” he explained.
“There are clauses in there in my favour which is a positive, but I don’t think anyone needs to worry about what happens.
“I guess they were put in for injury security, so touch wood (nothing happens).
“It was a good deal on my behalf. I know there have been some bad talks about it for the management of Parramatta, but (people shouldn’t worry).”
Despite all of Parramatta’s struggles and the ongoing focus on his deal, Brown was able to joke about the situation on Monday morning when asked if he would join Arthur in Perth should the franchise be included in the competition with Arthur as coach.
“I’m going to Bali for a meeting after this. Brad loves going there, so we might talk negotiations over there with a couple of Bintangs and he’ll be over there in his Bintang singlet and thongs,” he laughed.
“He might go there (to Perth) with his wife. She’s from there. If he does that, then it’d actually be really cool. After my 20-year contract ends, I might go over there.”