In three years time Jamal Idris will be 23 years old. That is a year younger than Greg Inglis is right now.
He will be playing in a Bulldogs side that will have been together for a number of years and grown as a premiership force as a result. He will have earned a number of starts for New South Wales at State Of Origin level and possibly test level as well.
He will be playing in a competition with a higher salary cap and two extra teams that will be desperate for talent and willing to pay to attract the right players.
If Jamal Idris signs a three year contract extension with the Bulldogs today, in three years time he could end up being one of the highest paid sportsmen in the country.
Jamal Idris is one of a rare breed of hyper athletes that come along in the NRL very rarely. His combination of size, speed and athleticism seems to go against all the rules.
Someone as big as him shouldn’t be able to run so fast, jump so high or have the ability to produce explosive power.
A player that towers over most forwards, and yet is most certainly an outside back.
Idris is still learning the game, and he still has parts of his game in defense that he needs to work on. People tend to forget that he is still only 20 and playing the most difficult defensive position in the game.
It’s easy to see why people forget his age and inexperience too. When you see the way he handled Greg Inglis last week, another of the games hyper athletes, no one has ever been able to go toe-to-teo with Inglis athletically and yet here was Idris throwing him around like a rag doll, it was a sight to behold.
The Bulldogs know how to develop a player, and for most of their history, they have looked after their own. Short of Steve Price, who they let walk for a bigger offer at the Warriors, the Bulldogs usually come through and pay their home grown players what they are worth.
Right now, teams looking to buy Jamal Idris are mostly paying for potential. In three years time, with more experience, more exposure and more representative honours, clubs will be forced to pay for one of the games out and out superstars.
Idris should stick with the Dogs. It will be well worth it in the long run.
