Joey Manu’s $1.6m contract call signals latest shift in cross-code talent stoush

Updated July 21, 2026 — 7:29am,first published 11:48am

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The PNG Chiefs are emerging as the NRL’s trump card in the cross-code battle for elite athletes as Joey Manu considers a multimillion dollar return to rugby league with the incoming franchise.

Manu and his family toured the Chiefs’ Port Moresby facilities on Monday and the ex-Roosters star has been in talks with PNG officials for several weeks over a marquee deal to join Willie Peters’ inaugural 2028 roster.

Fellow code-hopper Zac Lomax is expected to make the same trip to PNG in the next week as he weighs up his own multi-year offer to make an NRL comeback with the Chiefs.

Manu has been holidaying in New Zealand since the end of the French Rugby Top 14 season, where he has another year remaining on his contract with Racing 92.

The 29-year-old will return to France in September, where his deal is estimated to be worth as much as €1 million ($1.6 million) a season.

French rugby’s four-month off-season had prompted the Warriors to enquire about Manu taking up a short-term NRL return this season, though that was ultimately knocked back by the Kiwi star.

Former Rooster Joey Manu and his family at Port Moresby airport on Monday.

A similar move from late May next year could yet make Manu an elite mid-2027 signing for NRL clubs.

Sources speaking on the condition of anonymity due to ongoing negotiations have told this masthead that 2027 will be Manu’s last campaign in European rugby as he looks to move back closer to family in New Zealand.

A return to Japanese rugby, where Manu first landed in 2024 after wrapping up a 181-game Roosters career, is still a possibility.

However, Manu is genuinely considering the PNG move given it offers a return to rugby league and the Chiefs are the only NRL outfit that can truly compete with the spending power of overseas rugby clubs.

Joey Manu left the NRL as one of the best players in the game.NRL Imagery

Manu’s current wage in France is roughly double the $800,000 the Roosters could offer him during his final year at the club, when he was widely regarded as the best centre in the game.

The NRL’s salary cap is predicted to rise to at least $15 million in 2028, thanks to the record $5.3 billion broadcast deal.

But even with that potential 24 per cent increase, PNG would be the only NRL side able to match Manu’s potential earnings in overseas rugby without destabilising their salary cap due to their ability to offer players tax-free wages.

The Roosters have repeatedly been mentioned in terms of bringing Manu back to the NRL, but this masthead reported in April that the club privately gave up that hope given his earning power in the rival code.

Zac Lomax’s potential return to rugby league is gaining momentum.Getty Images

Mark Nawaqanitawase has set the NRL alight in his two years of playing rugby league, but he will earn more than double his Tricolours wage when he links with Japan’s Saitama Wild Knights at the end of the year.

Lomax, meanwhile, took a significant pay cut to join the Western Force after going all in on the aborted R360 project. He knocked back an approach to join the Storm next year and is chasing a Wallabies debut with an eye to playing in the 2027 World Cup.

Beyond that, either overseas rugby or linking with the Chiefs in 2028 present as the former NSW Origin star’s best chance to cash in given the estimated $350,000-a-year shortfall between his current earnings and his previous Parramatta deal.

PNG have also made an offer to highly-rated 19-year-old Queensland Reds tyro Treyvon Pritchard, though as revealed by this masthead, the Roosters have also weighed in with a lucrative bid to lure him to the NRL.

As for Manu and PNG, his existing Australian resident status also ensures any Chiefs contract would be tax-exempt.

The club’s tax exemption deal is only in place between only the Australian and PNG governments, which reduces the financial lure for Kiwi and English players – including St Helens prop Matty Lees, who signed with the Chiefs last month.

Manu is also considered especially marketable in rugby league circles given his clean-cut looks, on-field prowess and cleanskin status, making him a natural fit for PNG’s lucrative third-party agreements.

Earnings from those arrangements are also tax-exempt and star signing Jarome Luai is already tipped to earn more than double his $1.2 million Chiefs salary through endorsements in rugby league mad PNG.

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Dan Walsh is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.