7th Tackle: Where to now for Corey Norman?

Dragons fire for Norman leaves Thompson smoked

To hell with Corey Norman's tarnished reputation! So say St George Illawarra, who are preparing to offer the Eels bad boy a three-year contract worth $2.4 million. The Dragons' desperation to secure a new half to replace veteran Benji Marshall has been barely disguised all year. And after missing out on Luke Keary to the Roosters, they've decided to go all out for the trouble-prone playmaker whom many believe has the potential to be the game's best.

But their interest in Norman will come at a cost, and we've heard the victim is set to be back rower Joel Thompson. It was widely expected Thompson would re-sign for another two years, but there's now a chance he could be forced elsewhere as the Dragons search for cap space to accommodate Norman. They've already cleared $300,000 from next year's limit by releasing English prop Mike Cooper 12 months early. Another $200,000 has been slashed from Mitch Rein's current salary; explaining why the off-contract hooker is yet to commit. Add the departure of Marshall - and very possibly co-captain Ben Creagh - and the numbers should work.

We can also reveal Norman has spoken with Dragons coach Paul McGregor over the phone in recent weeks. This will come as disappointing news for the Eels, who have suffered poor press as a result of Norman's off-field behaviour this year. Parramatta also have a three-year extension waiting for him, but it's believed to be short of the money on offer in Wollongong by about $100,000-a-season.

Dragons fans might be entitled to question why the club is taking a risk with Norman. Powerbrokers believe the potential rewards are simply too rich to ignore. And they also think Gareth Widdop would be better served playing alongside a more structured halves partner. Few could argue the Englishman has consistently reached his top form in tandem with Marshall.

Video weak leak

Two years ago a high profile player went to every possible length to ensure a self-produced sex video didn't get into the wrong hands. After sharing it with a group of teammates on a group chat message board, the player fronted each individual to ensure it had been deleted. He had no choice but to be heavy-handed; several members of the media had become aware of its contents as well as NRL executives. The cover-up was successful.

Sadly Norman wasn't so lucky. In remarkably similar circumstances, Norman posted the 12-second clip of himself standing next to an older man who is snorting what appears to be cocaine onto Snapchat. It was shared with a group of friends, including Eels teammates. Norman is entitled to wonder who sold him out by first saving - and then forwarding the message. From there it fell into the hands of a personal injury lawyer, who tried to sell it to media outlets for $150,000 on Monday.

Both Channel 7 and 9 declined his package deal, which included a longer 30-second clip of Norman performing a sex act on a mystery female that featured a cameo from a can of Canadian Club and had former housemate James Segeyaro rooting for him in the background. Apart from the sheer stupidity of recording these acts on a camera phone, Norman doesn't appear to have done any wrong in this case. Friends say his first concern was for Parramatta teammates, who were again forced to answer for him.

One last word on Norman

Andrew Johns' declaration that Norman has leapt to next in line as successor to Maroons halves Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk certainly raised some eyebrows. But we couldn't agree more with the Great Joey. For starters, Norman shares a lot of similarities with Thurston. Those with short memories would have forgotten the strife Thurston found himself in as a younger man. After one too many brushes with police, the Cowboys wanted to run him out of Townsville and it took a heartfelt plea from Gus Gould to save his bacon.

There's also similarities between the pair on the paddock. Both compete relentlessly for the full 80 minutes. Like Thurston, Norman is supremely fit. As demonstrated by last week's comeback win over the Roosters, he plays the last minute as desperately as the first. And deep down he does have a decent heart.

During yesterday's court appearance where he pled guilty of possessing party and unprescribed drugs, the magistrate heard that Norman had bought his single mum a house. It was also revealed that he'd helped a severely disabled man named Tom early this season, arranging for him to watch Parramatta's win over Canterbury at ANZ Stadium. The pair had only met a day earlier. The man's parents wrote a letter directly to NRL boss Todd Greenberg praising Norman. It will be interesting to see whether Greenberg takes the letter into account when deciding how long to suspend Norman for the drugs conviction.