“Just waiting for the season” – Luke Thompson sheds light on future

Luke Thompson has been linked with a move away from Canterbury for the entirety of the off-season, but a post from the prop forward on Instagram today seems to point to what his future holds.

The Super League Grand Final winner and Harry Sunderland Award winner cut ties with St Helens midway through 2020 to take on a new challenge in the NRL. Despite playing in a struggling Canterbury side, the Englishman has impressed down under and with the Bulldogs hoping for a big season in 2022 following some exciting recruitment, you’d expect Thompson to kick on.

However, this off-season hasn’t been plain sailing for Thompson. Firstly his stance on the vaccine pulled his future into question but even having received the jab, it appeared as though a move away was likely.

This was because of Canterbury’s recent exploits in the transfer market even making some signings ahead of the 2023 season in the shape Viliame Kikau meaning their salary cap was being threatened.

As a top earner, it seemed like the Bulldogs were trying to offload Thompson with Wests Tigers and Melbourne Storm showing interest.

He was even curiously absent for training at times alongside Kyle Flanagan who was also reportedly being offered to clubs on both sides of the planet.

However, both he and Flanagan seem set to stay at Canterbury for 2022 with Flanagan telling Serious About Rugby League exclusively that he was hoping for a “a big year” at Canterbury where he would “hopefully turn things around.”

Now Thompson has seemingly confirmed he’ll be staying with the Bulldogs with an Instagram post last night. The post was a picture of him in his Canterbury shirt alongside some of his teammates including new signing Josh Addo-Carr and the aforementioned Flanagan simply playing cards and the like. The caption read: “Just waiting for the season with me mates.”

Although the post doesn’t seem like much, the fact he’s pictured in a Canterbury shirt alongside fellow Canterbury stars “waiting for the season” seems to indicate he’ll be remaining at the club in 2022.

Could it be a big season for the Englishman, especially with a World Cup on the horizon? He and Canterbury fans will certainly hope so.