Super League-linked pair Matt Lodge and Jock Madden have both been dealt setbacks in their respective hunts for a new club. Lodge and Madden had been linked with moves to South Sydney Rabbitohs over the off-season, but according to the Daily Telegraph, neither man will be linking up with Wayne Bennett.
Lodge is currently a free agent after being released by Manly Sea Eagles at the end of the 2024 NRL season. Super League has been mentioned as a potential destination for the prop, but Lodge seemed to nip that talk in the bud by insisting that he would ‘definitely’ be playing in the NRL in 2025, during an interview.
As such, the expectation was that he would sign with a club Down Under, but he is yet to do that and Souths’ decision to pass on Lodge might just see a move to the Northern Hemisphere emerge as a possibility once more.
Madden still has a club, with the half-back having two years left to run on his deal with Brisbane Broncos. However, he has been deemed surplus to requirements following the Broncos’ signing of Ben Hunt, who made the switch to Suncorp Stadium earlier in the off-season.
Madden has reportedly been offered to Super League clubs, but according to The Mole, the 24-year-old’s agent was hopeful of getting him in at Souths as an alternative to former St Helens man Lewis Dodd. The Telegraph report brings an end to that talk, though, with the report simply stating he won’t be at the Rabbitohs.
The half-back could find himself looking to Super League as a result, then, but potential landing spots for both him and Lodge are few and far between.
Huddersfield Giants and Leigh Leopards, who announced the signing of Alec Tuitavake on Sunday, are the only two sides who definitely have overseas quota space, while Catalans Dragons are yet to confirm Reimis Smith’s future.
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