Our Club has today been advised that regardless of our best efforts to retain him, Jack Bird has accepted a multi-year contract at the Brisbane Broncos.
Despite our Club making its highest ever financial offer to secure a current player, it could not match the multimillion dollar deal offered to Bird to join the Broncos.
“While we are always disappointed to see any player move on from our Club, and particularly one of Jack’s talent, it is also important to note that the future of our Club is not built around any one individual,” Sharks CEO Lyall Gorman said.
Damian Keogh, Club Chairman reiterated that; “Our Club’s responsibility and long term strategy is to ensure we allocate our salary cap across the playing group to give us the best chance of sustained on-field success."
Head Coach Shane Flanagan added; “On behalf of the Coaching staff and players I am terribly disappointed that Jack has decided to move on considering he made his NRL debut at our Club, was the NRL Rookie of the Year, made his debut for Origin and won a premiership all within the space of just over two years.
“Since debuting for us in 2015, our Club has played a major role in developing Jack into a State of Origin level player which is a testament to the talent identification and player development systems we have in place. We look forward to steering many more of our talented young players along a similar journey in the years to come.
“While we wish Jack well in his future endeavours, he is a professional and we have no doubt he will continue to give his full focus to his Club and his teammates on and off the field and play a major role throughout 2017,” Flanagan added.
Bird will be making no public comment prior to the weekend as he prepares with the rest of his teammates to play the Panthers on Sunday.
