Sacked Josh Dugan in NRL tug-of-war - Sydney Morning Herald

AAP

Sacked Canberra star Josh Dugan has suddenly become the prize in an NRL signing tug-of-war between a cashed-up St George Illawarra and Brisbane side desperately needing some attacking strike.

The Dragons were hot favourites to pick up Dugan before the weekend.

But confirmation on Monday young Broncos gun Corey Norman is headed to Parramatta in 2014 quickly led to speculation Brisbane's interest in Dugan had drastically intensified.

Brisbane wished Norman well in the future in a statement on their website on Monday after the Eels confirmed his signing for three years for close to $1.5 million.

But they refused to comment when contacted by AAP on whether his departure would mean they go all out to sign bad boy Dugan as his fullback replacement.

Dugan is managed by the same player agent who represented Norman.

His father is a massive Dragons fan but insiders say Brisbane appeals to him as a big city, a one-team town with a club which could resurrect his representative career.

A sticking point for Brisbane would be if Dugan expects to earn the reported $500,000-a-season he was pulling at the Raiders; the Dragons in a position to drop that kind of money now, the Broncos seemingly unable to unless they could get a heavily back-ended contract approved by salary cap auditor Ian Schubert.

Whichever club lands his signature will have hope the NRL agree to register him, something which could take weeks.

And if they do, whether the contract would include any special conditions.

Canberra officials provided the NRL with a `Dugan dossier' last week, which is believed to contain a string of off-field breaches by the 22 year-old, dumped by the club after he posted pictures of himself on Facebook drinking two weeks ago while injured.

Because of confidentiality laws, clubs interested in signing Dugan are unlikely to obtain a copy of the Raiders' dirt dossier.

The NRL is currently reviewing Canberra's report and weighing up whether it would register Dugan should a contract be presented to them.

It would need to be satisfied the contract fits under the salary cap and also that the player had had sufficient time to address any issues to prevent a recurrence in the future.

There are a number of options open to the NRL.

It could refuse to register the player or register him on a conditional contract.