As the battle to secure his signature escalates, Titans CEO Michael Searle is set to meet with Bulldogs centre Jamal Idris within the next week, as he becomes the hottest property on the player market.
Idris, who has already visited Knights HQ, admitted that he was seriously considering the possibility of moving to either Newcastle, or the Gold Coast.
It was the Knights current recruitment manager Keith Onslow, the same manager who took Idris to the Dogs, that is the driving force behind getting him back at the Knights.
The Knights were believed to be the front-runners, but now that the Titans have ended the race, things will heat up.
”We have got genuine interest in Jamal,” Searle said.
”He is a quality player and a really robust centre that we believe would be a good addition to our team.
”We see him as a player on the rise, and I am hoping to have a chat with his manager this week or possibly next week.”
Whilst it would be difficult for him to leave the club, Idris says that if he was to leave, he would perhaps feel better off closer to family on the North Coast with Newcastle.
”I feel settled at the Bulldogs,” Idris said.
”For me to leave would be like packing up from home but Newcastle is in between Sydney and Forster so I’d be a lot closer to my family. But then again the Titans is a change of scenery, and if I decided to move, I could deal with it a lot better now than I could of a few years ago. There are a lot of meetings going to happen soon with all the clubs but I’m not concerned with that. Playing good footy comes first, then the contract stuff will follow.”
Idris is also looking forward to the possibility of being selected for Origin, and is following a similar adage to that of Tigers centre, Chris Lawrence.
”Origin is all about performing, isn’t it? Everyone talks about it so far in advance that some people forget you have to perform every week to be a chance, so I’m more concentrating on each and every game. It’s not on my radar at the moment; if I’m performing, it will come to me.”