Perth Bears recruitment manager Dane Campbell wants to sign 10 players by Christmas as he reveals his philosophy for assembling the NRL’s newest team.
Handed a blank cheque, and with a blank canvas, Campbell has been tasked with assembling a roster of 36 players with a budget of $11.95 million. The job will begin in earnest on November 1, when he can begin negotiating with a raft of big-name free agents, headlined by Payne Haas, Viliame Kikau, Luke Metcalf, Jayden Campbell, Josh Addo-Carr, Harry Grant, Jahream Bula and Tyran Wishart.
In a wide-ranging interview, Campbell spoke about what he learnt from the Dolphins’ entry into the NRL, fears about being used as leverage by rival clubs and player managers, the potential of having to pay more than they should to lure players to Western Australia, and the prospect of signing players from non-traditional areas, such as South African rugby, or even the NRL combine in America.
“It’s certainly unique; it doesn’t happen often,” Campbell said of the challenge of putting together a team from scratch.
While he will soon have the chance to talk a long list of official free agents, there could be another subset of contracted stars – the likes of Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Cameron Munster, Jarome Luai and Nelson Asofa-Solomona – who could become available if they trigger options in their contracts, or are given permission to leave their incumbent clubs early.
“At the end of the year there are always moving parts,” Campbell said.
“Once upon a time everyone would go on holidays in October, but the reality now is in the recruitment space and club land, there’s a lot of movement happening. There are new coaches coming in who will have opinions on certain players and they will want to rejig their rosters.
“There might be players who aren’t off contract per se who may be given permission to negotiate given the club’s current position, needs or they may jigsaw something themselves in terms of a cap perspective. There’s a lot of complexity to it, for sure.”
Campbell said there was no rush to finalise the roster ahead of its entry into the NRL in 2027, given some players could fall out of favour at their current clubs next year.
“We are mindful we don’t have to have a roster of 30 done by Christmas time this year,” he said.
“If we’ve got 10 players signed by Christmas, we’ve done incredibly well. The rest can be built out by next year.”
‘They key is that, whoever comes, that they come for the right reason for us to be successful.’
Dane Campbell
Asked whether signing 10 players by the end of the year was feasible, Campbell said: “In my brain, that’s possible. That’s across the whole squad, that’s not necessarily the top 10 players, that could be from player one through to 36.”
Some clubs have lost key players by allowing options into their contracts, headlined by Dylan Brown’s defection from Parramatta to Newcastle and Stefano Utoikamanu’s shift from the Tigers to the Storm. While the Bears will be pragmatic during negotiations, Campbell said limiting clauses was a goal.
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“Ideally you try to take them out,” he said. “There are going to be differing circumstances for different players, but primarily if we hold something valuable, we have to make sure we don’t have too many either club and/or player options, or mutual options.
“The other part is staggering contracts. Having everyone on two-year deals, then all of a sudden in two years having the whole playing roster coming off contract.
“The ability to have some players on two-, three- and four-year deals, that would be a big part of the jigsaw, too.”
They are not officially yet in the market to sign players, but already a raft of big names have been linked to Perth.
“There’s going to be noise,” said Campbell, who held similar positions at the Storm and Cowboys.
“We have to understand the discussions we have internally about our philosophy and stick to that, not bowing to the public expectations or external noise.
“It’s important to understand we have a strategy and we stick to that, not to get wound up with whatever is being speculated. There will be some [conversations] that are real and there will be some that aren’t. That’s the nature of the beast with a new entity.”
Canberra officials have privately stated that they often need to pay a premium of between 10 to 15 per cent to attract an established star to the nation’s capital. Asked if the Bears would need to pay similar “overs” to lure players to Perth, Campbell said: “Potentially. It might not necessarily be the high earners, it might be that middle tier to lower bracket.
“They might be making some decisions about where they’ve grown up and they might have a similar opportunity at a Sydney-based club.
“As an example, if you’re playing for Cronulla on $200,000 and Parramatta offer you $220,000, you might decide to go there because you don’t change houses, you’re just driving in a different direction.
“Whereas for us, if we’re offering that same player on $220,000, that $20,000 extra, or that 10 per cent mark, that may not convince someone to go to Perth because they’ve got to get a new house, they will be away from family, there’s a whole lot of factors to consider.
“For the top earners, Perth is a wonderful city and they aren’t necessarily the ones who will be disadvantaged in that sense. It’s more the middle to low tier that we need to be really strategic around …
“They key is that, whoever comes, that they come for the right reason for us to be successful. Identifying the character of the person and what they want out of their careers is huge for us.”
The Bears have in Mal Meninga, like the Dolphins did with Wayne Bennett, an iconic coach who will be a magnet for players. Campbell said there were learnings they could take away from the NRL’s expansion into Redcliffe.
“In year one, when they had their best 20 available, they were really competitive,” Campbell observed. “But once they got to player 22 and beyond, the depth unfortunately just wasn’t there. That’s a key learning for us; do we want to be super-competitive in year one?
“If that’s the case, the reality is we’ll have to build a deeper roster with more experienced players rather than just fill it with younger players.”
Campbell said the club would need to get inventive in identifying talent, and would look at options such as the NRL combine and South African rugby players.
“There are going to be elements where we have to think outside the box,” he said.
“South Africa is certainly an area of interest, I’ve been over there a few times and seen a plethora of rugby talent.
“They are similar to New Zealand in only having limited franchises in rugby union, but a mass playing population. We’ll certainly have a look at that. The proximity, distance and one flight will help in that sense.
“England will be somewhere we look, the Super League. The other one is the potential opportunities the NRL have created, whether it be the North America playing pool or eventually some of the conversations around PNG and whether there are some cap exemptions or concessions with players from those areas coming into your list.
“They are things that we are open-minded to.
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