Lichaa set to remain a Bulldog in NRL
Oct 12, 2017 - 2:13 AM After having a farewell at Canterbury, hooker Michael Lichaa has revealed in an extraordinary turnaround that he is set to sign a new deal with the NRL club.Lichaa, who will play for Lebanon in the Rugby League World Cup, says an agreement has been reached which should keep him at the Bulldogs.
"I had a farewell, so I didn't think I was going to be sticking around," Lichaa said on Thursday.
"But I went away and left it up to my manager and he's come back with some good news so, hopefully, get it signed off in the next week or two."
Lichaa said he was yet to speak to new Bulldogs coach Dean Pay, the man who replaced the sacked Des Hasler.
However, Lichaa has been coached by Pay before in the NSW under-20 team.
"He's a really good bloke and he's obviously a lot different to Des - different style of coaches," Lichaa said.
"But I think he'll be really good for us, getting old Bulldogs people around training and the team. I think it will be awesome for the club.
Asked if he thought Pay's style would suit him more than Hasler's, Lichaa said "fingers crossed - I'm not 100 per cent sure.
"I've got to wait and see next year. But I'm pretty excited.
"I think the last month of footy I played, I showed that I could play footy with the ball. I'm not just a tackler and that's what you want to be doing the whole year.
"If I can have that run first, pass second mentality, I think that's what suits me best so, hopefully, I can move forward with that."
Sparingly used at times in the back half of the season, Lichaa adopted a nothing-to-lose attitude in the last few games, running the ball more in what apparently wasn't necessarily part of Hasler's game plan.
Lichaa was diplomatic when asked if he felt stifled by Hasler's tactics before that last month.
"It's hard to say. You do what's best for the team," Lichaa said.
"People say to me 'why don't you run the ball?', those kind of things, but some things are out of your control.
"You do what's best for the team and I wouldn't say I'm a selfish player."
Source: AAP
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