We have people the last few months worrying about a release.
It is always going to be a risk with Australian players. Especially after having a child.
The best the club can do is make sure she has a support network around his partner. Especially when she doesn't have family across visiting or when the team is travelling. Obviously that would only be during the day time so his partner will still have to deal with the night with a new born.
If she is finding it hard and they need to look to move on. Yes, due to this years form he would be in a good bargaining position. It can also be flipped to would it work out so well at another club? The Warriors have shown a lot of faith in him with the rehab in the States. The coach has likely done a lot of work with him. He has been given a marque position in an NRL side. Those spots are limited. Is there another club he'd walk straight into? Maybe Dragons and Souths.
The best the club can do is to make
Metcalf and his partner happy in Auckland. At the moment he's happy.
I know we have had players wanting releases in the past. We can't shy away from signing Australians. We just need to provide a set up in Auckland that could cover some situations.
Townsend for example was released as there was an illness in the family. The best you can do there is encourage travel. But that is a more realistic reason for a release. Having a child is different to me after recently raising two boys away from family it is doable.
Contract time it's different but the best we can do is provide a competitive offer and review the development he has had here and where we sings things going.