The future of Rabbitohs five-eighth John Sutton is still well and truly up in the air, with the South Sydney side still reluctant as to whether or not they want to retain Sutton beyond 2011.
Whilst Sutton is unconcerned at this point in the season about his contract, at least according to his agent Steve Gillis, he does come off contract at the end of 2011, so the thought is lingering in his mind.
“They are still working out what they are going to do with coaches and that kind of thing,” Gillis said.
“We are not too concerned right now, nothing is going to change dramatically in the next five weeks or so and we’ve only played five rounds.”
With rumours emerging that Wayne Bennett said to Souths not to re-sign Sutton and his halves partner Chris Sandow if they wanted Wayne to sign with them – Chief Executive Shane Richardson said the club have no plans to shelve Sutton.
“The club haven’t told me anything like that, they don’t know who the coach will be yet so I find it unlikely,” he said.
“I don’t know who out there would be much better than John Sutton.
“There is some interest in him, but he wants to stay at Souths and that is what he has told them.
“I have had discussions with Richo, and nothing is on hold, we are still talking, it is just these things take time but there is no rush just yet.
“It is only round five. If you go through the rosters of all the clubs there are a lot of (unsigned) high-profile players like Jamal Idris out there so we are not too worried.”
One club who has no interest in signing John Sutton, is the Parramatta Eels, with CEO Paul Osborne denying that the Eels are interested in the out-of-form five-eighth.
“He’s not on our radar at all – we’ve got no interest in going down that path,” Osborne said.