St Helens considering lodging complaint over South Sydney approach for George Delaney
George Delaney in action for St Helens in 2024.
St Helens are weighing up whether to lodge a complaint to the NRL over the handling of South Sydney Rabbitohs and their approach to prop George Delaney, Love Rugby League can reveal.
Delaney was one of four players reportedly identified by Souths and their football manager, Mark Ellison, as potential targets for the 2025 season alongside Leigh prop Tom Amone, Wigan’s Tyler Dupree and Leeds‘ Tom Holroyd.
However, Delaney is still under contract with the Saints until the end of the 2026 season, and the Super League club are believed to have no intention of selling him.
Ellison has recently spent time in the UK to finalise a deal to sign St Helens scrum-half Lewis Dodd, who is out of contract at the end of this season.
But Love Rugby League has learned that the Saints are unhappy with an approach made by Souths to Delaney without the club’s permission, and are now considering to formally complain to the NRL about the situation.
Souths are understood to have held an informal conversation with Delaney during Ellison’s time in England about the possibility of a switch to the NRL without consulting the Saints, something the Super League club are privately furious about.
While they insist that Delaney would not be for sale anyway, sources close to the club told Love Rugby League there was at least an expectation that any purchasing club would approach a club with whom a player is under contract to discuss whether or not they would be interested in a transfer.
There is no suggestion Delaney is open to a move to the NRL as things stand, with the prop still having over two years left on his existing Saints deal and having only just broken into their first-team in the past two years.
Delaney made his Super League debut in 2022, and Saints tied the prop down to a new long-term contract only last summer. And they have no intention of letting the prop depart, and are now considering taking their disapproval of Souths’ behaviour to the NRL in the hope they will act.
