St George Illawarra premiership winner Jarrod Saffy has signalled his intentions to return to rugby league this season.
Fairfax Media understands Saffy has made contact with his former club and flagged the possibility of returning to St George Illawarra before the end of the June 30 transfer period.
The prop last played rugby league in St George Illawarra’s 2010 premiership win against the Roosters.
He made the switch to rugby union, joining the Melbourne Rebels for three seasons, and is now playing for Union Sportive Bressane in the French second division, where he signed a one-year contract.
That season ends in May, enabling Saffy to play out the remainder of this season in the NRL. South African-born Saffy had a strong junior rugby career, playing for the Australian schoolboys and Australian sevens. His most recent stint in the 15-a-side game was plagued by a serious neck injury, which threatened to end his career prematurely.
It is understood the 29-year-old’s first preference is returning to the Dragons, having played 53 games in a three-year stint at the club after making his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers in 2006.
While the Dragons may turn down Saffy’s services, he could link up with former coach Wayne Bennett at the Knights who, along with Manly, are still looking to bolster their forward stocks.
Meanwhile, Canterbury prop Aiden Tolman says Canterbury remains as wary as ever of South Sydney's fearsome forward pack, despite the loss of suspended stars George Burgess and Ben Te'o.
Burgess and Te'o will sit out the Good Friday clash at ANZ Stadium after they both accepted early guilty pleas for separate tripping incidents involving Penrith full-back Matt Moylan last week.
But Tolman said the Rabbitohs' forward pack would still be strong.
"It is going to be a great challenge for us and everyone is up for it," Tolman said. "South Sydney are a great forward pack. They have got good go-forward mixed in with a lot of skill as well, so we are going to need to turn up and be ready to play Friday afternoon to get the job done.
"They play through the middle. We need to make sure we try and win the ruck and stay really tight around there because if we do that, it stops [Greg] Inglis and [Nathan] Merritt coming into the game."
with AAP