KEY POINTS:
Terence Seu Seu, consider yourself seen.
The 19-year-old New Zealand hooker who couldn't even break into premier league last season is set to win a spot in Newcastle's National Rugby League side for the opening round clash against the Bulldogs after starring in both of the Knights' trial
wins over Penrith and Cronulla.
With Australian test rake Danny Buderus suspended and regular replacement Luke Quigley picking up an ankle injury on Saturday which could sideline him for two weeks, Newcastle coach Brian Smith said Seu Seu's blinding performances had earned him an NRL debut.
"Terence Seu Seu has played himself into first grade I can tell you that right now," said Smith.
"He is a player, that boy."
A stunned Seu Seu, who has represented New Zealand A, was speechless after hearing Smith's accolade, but quickly put pressure back on the new coach and urged him to hurry up and finalise the teenager's contract negotiations.
Seu Seu is off-contract this season and although he knows he'll be second-choice hooker behind Buderus, he is desperately keen to stick around and learn from the best.
"That's good news. I have been waiting for him to sign me during the week too," said Seu Seu when told of Smith's compliment.
"I come off contract this year and hope to sign up for another couple of years.
"Danny is the number one. He is the one I look up to and watch videos on. "[Buderus] is the best ... Anything he says goes for me."
Williams very pricey
Kiwis star Sonny Bill Williams will likely price himself out of the NRL market if he doesn't accept a A$1.5 million ($1.7 million) offer from the Bulldogs this week, rival clubs say.
Williams has until Friday to accept the three-year, A$500,000-per-season offer from his current club as they tire of the protracted negotiations.
Sydney's Sun-Herald polled the other 15 NRL clubs and 10 of them said they couldn't afford Williams under the salary cap rules.
The others - South Sydney, St George-Illawarra, Penrith, Sydney City and Cronulla - were only lukewarm on the idea.
Should Williams reject the Bulldogs, Cronulla were reportedly the most likely bidders but only if they released their marquee player Brett Kimmorley.
Manly chief executive Grant Meyer summed up the feeling among most NRL clubs.
"He's a fantastic player and we'd love to have him in our team but the money they're talking about for Sonny Bill is well and truly out of our reach."
Some clubs also expressed reservations about Williams' injury toll in recent years which restricted him to 41 NRL games since bursting onto the scene in 2004.
Warriors keen on sailor
A Sunday newspaper poll says the Warriors are the only NRL club who would sign disgraced international Wendell Sailor.
The Sunday Telegraph polled all 16 clubs and said only the Warriors showed any interest in Sailor's services when he ends his drug ban in April 2008.
"I think the guy has suffered the consequences of what's happened ... and if he wants to play NRL, he should be allowed to," Warriors chief executive Wayne Scurrah said.
"He would be a great drawcard back into the game, so we'd certainly have him. Commercially he would attract support on and off the field, and if he came back like he was [before switching to rugby union] he'd be pretty awesome."
Sailor, 32, was banned for two years after testing positive for cocaine when playing for the New South Wales Waratahs in the Super 14 last year.
The double international has expressed interest in returning to league when his ban expires but both the South Sydney Rabbitohs and the Sydney Roosters played down reports they were in contract negotiations with the big winger.
Marshall and co look sloppy
Plenty of homework awaits the new-look Wests Tigers halves pairing of Benji Marshall and John Morris before the season kickoff, after they failed their first big assignment.
Named in the starting lineup together for the first time this season, the much-hyped duo were "all over the place" in the Tigers' disappointing 26-4 trial loss to wooden spoon favourites Canberra in Brisbane.
Tigers coach Tim Sheens didn't have too many compliments for the pair following the five tries to one defeat at Davies Park.
"They were all over the place tonight. I have to say they lost the composure of the game," Sheens said.
"There were a couple of fundamental errors, a couple of poor kicks but there were some good things too."
Former Parramatta playmaker Morris steps into the big shoes left by former Tigers captain Scott Prince.
And Kiwis half Marshall made his first start for the Tigers since finally regaining full fitness following a third major shoulder operation.
Big things are expected of the pairing as the Tigers attempt to bounce back after their title defence fell to pieces last year, the side missing the finals altogether.
But Morris said his Parramatta stint had steeled him for the pressure to come. "Every halfback and five-eighth combination has pressure, that's nothing new to me," he said.
"I played in the halves combination at Parramatta for four years where everyone compares you with [Peter] Sterling and [Brett] Kenny.
"That's something you can't let worry you - you just have to play your best."
But Morris admitted the clock was ticking as he attempts to gel with Marshall before the Tigers' season opener against Melbourne at Olympic Park on March 16.
- AAP, NZPA