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Hands off Kurtley Beale, NSW Waratahs tell Western Force
Bret Harris
The Australian March 01, 2011 12:00AM
NSW Waratahs are confident of retaining the services of brilliant Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale in the face of an attempted poaching raid by the Western Force.
After failing to secure Wallabies five-eighth Quade Cooper, the Force has turned its attention to Beale, who enjoyed a spectacular season with NSW and Australia last year. Like Cooper, Beale is good friends with young Force stars James O'Connor and David Pocock.
In addition to the Force's offer, it is understood Beale could earn an extra $200,000 a year in third-party deals in Perth.
The other option open to Beale is the big money on offer in Europe. Like his Waratahs teammate Luke Burgess, who has been linked to French club Toulouse, Beale is believed to have been approached by Montpellier.
Burgess is believed to have struck a deal to play with Toulouse next year and is just waiting for the appropriate time to announce it.
"It's no surprise. Any player who is performing at the level Kurtley is performing is going to attract interest from other clubs," Waratahs coach Chris Hickey said yesterday.
"We remain really confident we will be able to retain Kurtley. Negotiations will continue over the next couple of weeks.
"Players make decisions based not just around money. They base it around things like friendship and opportunity and things like that."
After struggling to secure a starting position, Beale emerged as one of the Waratahs' key players last year.
While Beale's move from the inside backs to fullback midway through last season helped him to reignite his career, he spent a lot of time at first receiver in the Waratahs' 30-6 win against Queensland Reds in Sydney on Saturday night.
Along with five-eighth Berrick Barnes, Beale provided the Waratahs with more variety in attack.
"Obviously, having played a lot at first receiver he is very comfortable to step into that role," Hickey said.
"We give him the latitude to do that when he sees fit. It just brings another dimension to his game rather than playing at 15."
Rest of story:
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226013770410