Austin Joins Green Machine
It has been announced today that Blake Austin has out pen to paper and signed a three-year deal with the Canberra Raiders in a bid to secure a permanent NRL spot.
The Tigers have been nice enough to grant him an immediate release after they were resigned to the fact they wouldn’t be able to keep Austin as a back up option to their young-gun halves. Austin had told the club he wanted to be considered as their first choice number six for next season, but with the rise of Mitchell Moses and Luke Brooks, it seems there was no chance of that happening.
The release comes after a bizarre day yesterday in Tiger-town where Austin was photoshopped out of their 2015 promotional poster. His manager Tyran Smith said the move to the Raiders has been on the cards for months, but the Tigers held up proceedings in a bid to keep Austin in Sydney’s west. After yesterdays shambles and Jason Taylor getting his Ricky Stuart like broom out of the closet, the move couldn’t have come at a better time.
With the signing of Austin and Sam Williams, along with the rise of Mitch Cornish, it will almost certainly see club captain Terry Campese playing for Mounties in the NSW cup next season. On a deal worth $500,000 per season, Campo has one more season left to run and will no doubt be the highest paid reserve grade player next season, and possibly of all time.
At just 23 years-old, Austin has played 35 NRL games for both the Tigers and Panthers. He managed 19 in 2014 and was probably close to the Tigers best in all of those games.