Intrigue swirls over whether Warriors front-rower Matt Lodge been given a 700 thousand Australian dollar golden handshake, despite walking out mid-season

Australia's Daily Telegraph has made the claim, saying the NRL has ruled the money must be included in their salary cap for the remainder of this season and next.

However, Lodge is only understood to have had an option for 2023.

The assumption was that he would forfeit his money because the decision was his to break the contract.

Here's Lodge's response when asked to clarify the situation on Gold AM's Country Sport breakfast a fortnight ago.



NRL COVERAGE WITH PIT STOP. IF A DASH WARNING LIGHT'S SHOWING, THEY'LL FIX IT