7th Tackle - with Josh Massoud and Liam Cox

Welcome to round three of the 7th Tackle.

This week a number of clubs have their eyes on Wests Tigers stars while the Kiwis try to snare another Aussie.

So sit back and take in the latest from the NRL with Seven News league reporters Josh Massoud and Liam Cox.

Tigers eye Greener horizons

This could well be the clue that confirms Wests Tigers are preparing for halves duo Luke Brooks and Mitchell Moses to split.

We can reveal the joint venture has been closely looking to recruit Melbourne Storm five eighth Blake Green from next season onwards. Green is off-contract and likely to be collateral damage of Melbourne’s $2.2 million bid to keep halves partner Cooper Cronk for another two seasons.

Green also shares a long relationship with Tigers coach Jason Taylor. The pair spent time at the Eels together around a decade ago, when Taylor got his first shot as an NRL head coach and Green was rising through the club’s junior ranks.

Brooks and Moses both have options in their favour to remain at Concord next season, worth $650,000 each. But there are now serious questions over the Tigers’ salary cap capacity to keep both players at that price.

Ironically enough, the stellar form of James Tedesco could well work against Wests. We can reveal Tedesco stands to earn a $60,000 bonus if he’s selected for Australia and New South Wales this season.

That will be added to the Tigers’ 2017 cap, which has already taken a significant hit after veteran Chris Lawrence recently decided to exercise a $600,000 option for one more year.

Rabbitohs burrow for Mitch

We already know Canterbury have been making enquiries about Brooks, but what are Moses’ options? According to well-placed sources, Moses has been talking about a possible move to Redfern.

The young five-eighth is asking for big bucks on the open market – upward of $700,000 a season. On last year’s displays that would appear out of the question. However, his form over the first two rounds has been brilliant enough to suggest the price tag can be justified – so long as there’s consistency. And South Sydney will be in need of a new halves partner for Adam Reynolds, with Luke Keary wanting out over the infamous Russell Crowe bust-up.

Souths should have plenty of room to move after releasing Dylan Walker and Chris McQueen. They’ve already lost Chris Grevsmuhl (Penrith), while Tom Burgess could very well forgo the final two years of his contract to chase a start in the NFL.

Chad could have been a Kiwi

With all this talk about in-form halves, how can we overlook the slashing performance of Sharks No. 7 Chad Townsend last weekend?

Townsend re-joined his junior club after a two-year stint in Auckland, where he caught the eye of New Zealand national selectors. Unbeknown to most, Townsend’s grandmother is a Kiwi – and that makes him eligible for our Trans-Tasman rivals.

Kiwi coach Steve Kearney was certainly aware; we can reveal he made a push for Townsend to disown his Australian roots when he first arrived at the Warriors in 2014. Just a few months earlier, Townsend had been selected at halfback for the Prime Ministers XIII tour of PNG. He’d also represented NSW and Australia at every level as a junior.

Although he understood the path to a senior green and gold jersey was much more difficult, Townsend knocked the Kiwis back because of his desire to play Origin. He now finds himself back on home soil in the Shire after making the selfless decision to leave a big-money deal with the Warriors.

His partner’s mother has been struggling with terminal bowel cancer and the pair needed to be re-united. Townsend put love over his footy career, and the Warriors were decent enough to grant a release from the final year of his contract. The 25-year-old is now an ambassador for Bowel Cancer Australia, along with Sharks teammate Chris Heighington.

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