One positive from the previous regime is we have a clause of first refusal for Lewis, similar to Bateman when he left Wigan, so if he does return and we want to, we will be talking with him first.

I don't see how that's possible if he was out of contract?

Just what Craig Harrison had said, I don't know all the ins and outs off it but the deal he signed for the roosters was done way before the May date where clubs are allowed to talk to players. Not everything is straight forward.

Doesn't the May deadline only apply to RFL clubs? I'm sure you can approach the other competition whenever you want? Huddersfield did similar with Burgess for 2025.

I agree. It would have to be a pretty specific contract clause and I'd say pretty unenforceable too.

We don't have a contract with him to add the clause to either.

Might be wrong here but he signed in the final year of his Wakefield contract if that was before the May deadline to resign which I believe it was there could be a clause which would have allowed him to sign a deal with the Roosters so that he could secure it. In effect Wakefield will have allowed him to sign prior to May.

Your definitely correct, pretty much how i remember it, he certainly signed while under contract with Wakefield, at that point he would have had a live contract with the club (if i remember rightly he was out long term injured at the time).

As regards Wakefield having first option that was how is agent reported it at the time (not that makes it 100% ), he's roughly same age as jack croft and isaac shaw so would have also been covered by the same transfer protocols they were.

Its all a bit hypothetical as at minute no sign of him going anywhere although it was only a 2 year deal which expires in 2025 so who knows

There are no protocols between the competitions. If there were, we'd have received compensation for all three of them. The only way that clause would exist is if Murphy asked for it, but surely he'd just speak to us first anyway in that case?

What about what happened with Shaw and Croft?

We offered them a contract and due to being under 24 years of age couldn’t sign for a UK based team unless we got a fee.

Would the same not apply to Murphy in this scenario if we offered him a deal but he elected to go overseas?

I suspect that could be the case.

Regardless, if Murphy is available I’m sure we would be in the market for him.

That's my point. They all went overseas because there's no protocols between the various competitions so we've no control over what happens with their contract. Wigan did it with Bateman because he was still under contract and included it as part of the deal.

Also, the age is 22. Even if he comes back we've missed the deadline for compensation as well.