Hudson Young's move to the PNG Chiefs faces uncertainty after ARL insists on market value for player acquisitions.
Hudson Young's proposed move to the PNG Chiefs is now on the rocks after ARL Commission chair Peter V'landys assured rival club bosses on Wednesday that the Chiefs would have to pay market value for any player they wanted to secure for their entry to the premiership in 2028.
Young was expected to fly to PNG within the next fortnight but that trip is believed to now be in doubt given the developments on Wednesday, when V'landys moved to assuage club concerns around the Chiefs' spending power.
Whilst he did not use Young by name during talks with club bosses, it is understood he used the proposed deal for the NSW and Australian as an example of what would and would not be acceptable.
Canberra have put an offer to retain Young for about $1.1 million when his deal expires at the end of next year. That offer contains no ratchet clauses for rises in the salary cap.
The Chiefs were willing to pay about $900,000 - again with no ratchet - but have been told that would be unlikely to be registered by the NRL should Young take up their deal.