McCullough was a shock absentee at Red Hill on Thursday morning as he edges closer towards a move to St George Illawarra.Broncos coach Kevin Walters wants McCullough’s future sorted and told the No. 9 to sit out training.McCullough has been at loggerheads with the Broncos over the past few weeks, but now he is set to get his wish by being released from the final year of his deal and joining the Dragons on a three year deal. He will reunite with close friend Ben Hunt and St George Illawarra coach Anthony Griffin.
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Griffin has made it known McCullough is the player he wants to start at dummy half. The move will shift Cameron McInness into the lock position. McInness will wear no.13 when he joins the Sharks next year.The Dragons have been desperate to bolster their forward stocks given the departures of Tyson Frizell and James Graham.The Broncos have Issac Luke on a part-time deal with the veteran hooker an option to be pushed into the top 30 while former Manly and Newcastle rake Danny Levi has signed with Queensland Cup side Norths Devils.McCullough, who had a short stint with the Knights last year before rejoining the Broncos, also offers the Dragons some much-needed experience.Hunt endorsed the McCullough signing.“We’ve had a couple of conversations,” Hunt said. “I’d love to back with Macca and I’ve told him that. We understand each other pretty well. We played 10 years of footy together.”
McCullough is off-contract at the Broncos and wants the security of an extended deal at the Dragons, whose coach Anthony Griffin mentored the rugged rake more than a decade ago in Brisbane’s under-20s.While Walters is a huge fan of McCullough, the Broncos can free-up more than $500,000 in their salary cap by releasing him to the Dragons. Walters wanted McCullough to play a significant role this season but admits the Broncos are not in a position at this stage to match the Dragons’ longer-term deal.“Like a lot of our players who are off-contract, we want to see them play some football and then we will go from there,” Walters said. “Andrew is no different. I want him to play the football I know he is capable of and if he does that, he puts himself in the frame to get a new deal.“We’re going to have a meeting about his future and to be honest I’m not sure where it’s going to end.” Walters said the prospect of releasing McCullough is agonising given his outstanding contribution to the Broncos.“Look, I’ve made it clear I want to keep Andrew,” Walters said. “We’ve had some discussions and I want to keep him here this season, he’s a Broncos legend.
“I know how I feel about it and I want him to stay. He has a big role to play under me and he has a contract with us for this season.”Former Broncos skipper Gorden Tallis believes McCullough has more to offer the club after falling out of favour with former coach Anthony Seibold last season.“It‘s a tough decision for the Broncos,” he said. “They have Jake Turpin on their books and McCullough has a longer-term offer from the Dragons. “Macca has been a great player for the club for a long period of time, but the Broncos have supported him coming back from his hamstring injury.“It‘s a big decision for Kevvie and the recruitment-and-retention committee. “Turpin seemed to have the jump on him last year but now that ‘Macca’ is back, he has a huge fan in ‘Kevvie’.”
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