A miffed Ricky Stuart says he finds the Hudson Young contract saga “difficult” believing the star back rower’s decision on his future is being “absolutely” driven by money.
Young has controversially been offered $900,000 a year by the PNG Chiefs despite being valued at $1 million by the NRL, and having been offered $1.1 million over four seasons by Canberra.
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The tax-free PNG cash is worth more than the Raiders’ offer and Stuart told ABC Radio Canberra their proposal couldn’t be improved.
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“We couldn’t have offered Hudson any more,” Stuart said.
“I mean, we bent over backwards to try and keep Hudson and it would have been unfair on the club if we had went any further.
“We were at a stage where it was probably too much, yet we look after our players and we do everything we possibly can for them.
“But it gets to a stage where you’ve got to make a decision (and) my position and (Raiders CEO) Don Furner’s position is we have to look after the club.
Stuart had no doubt what is driving Young’s decision while admitting he took situations like this personally.
“Money. Absolutely it is (all about money),” the Raiders coach said.
“That doesn’t bother me one bit. If Hudson wants to make that decision and take those tax-free dollars, you’ve got to understand he’s got to live in Papua New Guinea.
“I do take it personally, and I take it very personally about coaching this team, this club.
“I do find it difficult at times, but you got to lose the emotion and see the business side of it.
“I’m not disgruntled with the fact that Hudson’s looking elsewhere, that’s his choice and decision.
“But what my club’s done is give him probably the highest offer that’s ever been offered to a player at this club in its time. It was a very, very generous offer, probably too big of an offer. But we did it (and) now he’s knocked it back.
“We’ve got to move forward. We’ve got to move on.”
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After 155 games with the Raiders, Young touched down in PNG this week ahead of their 2028 entry into the NRL.
“Our salary-cap auditor has set a value for Hudson Young and we won’t be compromising on our position. The Chiefs won’t be treated any different to any other club,” Peter V’landys told CODE Sports.
“If Hudson Young’s worth $1 million and they’re paying $900,000, $1 million will go on the salary cap.
“Of course, there are going to be some exceptional circumstances and those will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
“Canberra not signing Hudson Young doesn’t mean they (PNG) can pay less – their offer has to be at market value and we’re upholding that.”