Josh Schuster in brutal new development after sad $800,000 NRL setback takes new twist

Manly chief executive Tony Mestrov has claimed out-of-favour star Josh Schuster and his time at the club could be resolved "by the end of the week" in a new development in his sad contract saga. Manly announced last week Schuster would need to find a new club for 2025 having failed to feature in the NRL for the Sea Eagles this season.

His new contract, reported to be $800,000 a season three-year deal, was set to start next year. However, Manly have told the star he can look for a rival club having played for Manly's feeder club four times this year.

Schuster is on the lookout for a new club and it is uncertain if he will play NRL again this year for a rival club. And Manly chief executive Mestrov has claimed the club and the talented youngster could have a resolution by the end of the week.

”Discussions are happening with Josh and his manager,” Mestrov told SEN Radio. “At the moment we haven’t negotiated anything. I doubt Josh will be back playing for the Manly Sea Eagles and then we’ll come to a deal, hopefully by the end of the week. Josh needs to go onto another club to fulfil his potential, I think everyone agrees with that. His time hasn’t worked out here and we wish him all the best.”

Plenty has been made over a reported performance clause in Schuster's contract. However, Metrov refused to go into the details and claimed the Manly star's wellbeing was in the club's best interest going forward.

“There are performance clauses, but we don’t want to go down that road,” he added. “It’s not like we’re all kind of there and pulling from each side, (we all have) Josh’s best interests at heart, Josh wants to go and get another opportunity, he admitted it.

“Also (we have) touched base with the NRL, I think the first thing is to ensure that Josh’s wellbeing and welfare is okay, obviously there’s some issues there, we want to make sure he’s doing OK, he’s using some of our people here in the welfare department. I think it’s been done in the best interests of Josh and the club.”

Josh Schuster's woes at Manly Sea Eagles

Schuster's $800,000 per season extension raised eyebrows at the time, and was even more perplexing after Manly signed Luke Brooks to play five-eighth, pushing Schuster back to the second row. The young star was even dumped to reserve grade in 2023 after some lacklustre displays, before returning to the first grade side and signing his lucrative extension.

There were high hopes around the mercurial talent heading into 2024 but Schuster had a pre-season to forget after contracting chickenpox in December and then suffering a spiral fracture in his finger when he returned in the new year. He was also battling a calf strain that saw the forward left out of the Manly travelling party that kicked off the NRL season against South Sydney in Las Vegas. Manly coach Anthony Seibold said at the time that the decision was made to ensure Schuster returned to fitness and was available from round two.