The Melbourne Storm have moved to officially shut down rumours swirling around Ryan Papenhyuzen and his future at the club, especially the claims that someone within the outfit had been shopping him around to rivals.
“At no stage has any Storm official made contact with another club directly or via a third party regarding an early release of Ryan,” a club representative said on Thursday.
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“Paps is a Melbourne Storm person, he is loved by his teammates, coaches and staff and adored by Storm members and fans across the country and we look forward to seeing him on the track when he resumes training in December.”
Before the Storm spoke out against the rumours—which were originally reported by Danny Weidler for the Sydney Morning Herald—the 25-year-old fullback declared he “knows his value.”
“I know what I have to offer and if they don’t see it then they don’t see that,” Papenhuyzen told Fox Sports. “But I know plenty of people who do. I’ve just got to keep doing what I need to do to get back and play and I’m confident when I do get back playing that those reports will go away.”
The Sporting Base suspects much of this furore has come because rookie Sua Faa’logo impressed so highly in his debut for Samoa. There have already been discussions within the Storm about extending Faa’logo’s contract and doubling his pay, especially after Papenhuyzen was felled by another serious injury weeks after returning in round 28.
With Papenhuyzen’s future seemingly locked, his focus turns to another grind back to playing fitness. He is hoping to be in full training by January.
“I met with the surgeon yesterday and he was really positive with how it was going and how it’s healing and just starting to wean off the boot now and getting back into some exercise,” he said.
“The knee was definitely the toughest in terms of how many hurdles I had to overcome. But coming back then getting hurt again, mentally, was the most challenging.”
Last month, Papenhyuzen said he was aiming for a round one return.
