SAM Burgess admits there was a time he was resigned to losing Danny Walker from his Warrington Wolves squad.

And while the hooker eventually resisted the lure of the NRL to sign a new long-term deal with his hometown club, the Wire boss believes more needs to be done to keep Super League’s best homegrown talent within the competition.

Towards the end of the 2024 season, Walker was heavily linked with a move to Canberra Raiders, who are believed to have had significant bids for his services turned down.

The 25-year-old said at the time that, while he was happy to stay at Warrington, he would find the opportunity to test himself Down Under difficult to turn down.

However, it was confirmed last week that the 2024 Dream Team number nine had penned a new deal to keep him at The Halliwell Jones Stadium until the end of 2029 – a deal Burgess believed would remain unsigned for a while.

“First of all, it’s such a great signing for the club,” he said.

“Danny’s an exciting player and has a lot going for him. He’s only going to get better as time goes on.

“I thought he was out the door for a while – I thought he’d gone.

“I’d have been happy for him in some capacity but it’s harder to keep your homegrown good players that become marquee players almost.

“You get put under so much pressure because the NRL clubs have three or four times more money to spend. It is harder and you’re constantly fighting off those threats.

“They don’t really care that he’s under contract for two years as it happens more regularly over there. They come and throw money at players and it’s hard for them to ignore it.

“In some respects, something needs to be done for homegrown players to prevent the poaching of them, so to speak.

“Players get calls from clubs all the time and they’re only human, so they take them and they put stuff in their minds, throwing dollars at them and they don’t care about the damage it leaves behind.

“It created a big pain in my a**e last year. I think we can do something to protect them a bit.”

Walker was not the only one of Burgess’ players targeted by the Raiders last year, with the side from the Australian capital successfully tempting second-rower Matty Nicholson away from The Wire.

Lewis Dodd, Kai Pearce-Paul and Will Pryce are the latest examples of English players making the move to Australia, but the Wire boss thinks a way needs to be found to incentivise young talent remaining in Super League.

“I spoke to Danny pretty openly about it but people come under the carpet and try to sell dreams and not have any concern about what it leaves behind here, the hole it leaves and the irreplaceable gap you have to fill,” he said.

“It doesn’t work like that. We plan, we’re in front but take out a key component and it knocks you around for a couple of years.

“There’s got to be a bit of protection in place from a central point of view – maybe the league can do something about it?

“There needs to be more protection to keep assets here. Then you start growing the sport on the back of those English assets.

“There’s nothing better than having the likes of George Williams, Danny Walker, Mikey Lewis, Junior Nsemba – some of these young English boys who can be rock stars of England.”