South Sydney Rabbitohs have halted extension talks with star halfback as they juggle salary cap issues

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are in a fight to shuffle their salary cap around for the 2027 season with the arrival of superstar Payne Haas.

It has seen the club stall contract negotiations with Jamie Humphreys to figure out the best layout of the team moving into the 2027 season.

Humphreys may be on the move amid fears that salary cap pressure could squeeze him out.

Code Sports has reported that Jamie and his management were in talks for a one-year extension; however, chats have since stalled.

Rabbitohs chief executive Blake Solly featured on Fox League, where he expressed the current situation and the difficulties in offering him an acceptable offer at this stage.

“We’d like to keep Jamie here, but we also understand our challenges in terms of making him a offer for 2027 right now,” Solly said.

“We’ll sit down with George, his manager, and Jamie over the next few weeks and see if we can get something done.

“But we also understand that he’s a player that’s going to have a lot of options.

“He’s done really well in his first game back and in pretty difficult circumstances for him, and we know he’s got a lot of upsides.

“We’d love to keep him, but also respect the fact that he might want to see his future before we can get him an offer that works.

Humphreys was earmarked as the long-term Adam Reynolds replacement after Lewis Dodd’s departure, and after a transfer from the Manly Sea Eagles and 18 stints in the red and green last year, he has since fallen down the pecking order.

It has seen South Sydney birth Ashton Ward, who has started strongly since his debut, along with Jayden Sullivan showing powerful signs of development when given his opportunities.

“We’ve got a number of options, ‘Bud’ Sullivan’s done a good job there in the past, Ashton Ward, who’s really developing as a first grader.”

Although Solly agrees he will be highly sought after on the market, Humphreys may find his future at South Sydney in the newly introduced six-man bench if they can strike a deal.

He is a legitimate option to become a super-sub, being able to play in the halves and hooker roles, while being physically powerful enough to fill in the lock and back row positions at a pinch.

Drawing similarities to Dylan Walker, who played all of his earlier career in centre and five-eighth positions, now playing as a middle ball-playing forward off the bench.