Joey's next Bulldogs buy after 'great signing'

Andrew Johns has urged the Bulldogs to make their next signing a classy running five-eighth to play alongside Kieran Foran, days after the club secured cult hero Adam Elliott on a long-term deal.

After protracted negotiations that were starting to look shaky, Elliott finally agreed to re-sign with Canterbury on a deal that will keep him at the club until 2023.

Johns praised the Bulldogs for keeping the in-demand back-rower, claiming that he will "play Origin within the next two to three years" and said it was time for the rebuilding club to turn its attention to the halves.

Incoming coach Trent Barrett is renowned for getting his halves playing their best football, achieving it with Daly Cherry-Evans at Manly before revamping the Panthers' attack on the back of Nathan Cleary's career-best form.

While Johns would be happy to see off-contract star Kieran Foran stay at the Bulldogs at the right price, he hasn't seen enough from any of the young contenders for the other role already at the club to have faith in them as a long-term option.

Asked specifically about Lachlan Lewis, Jack Cogger and Brandon Wakeham on Wide World of Sports' Immortal Behaviour, Johns gave a brutally honest reply.

"For me they're not long term," Johns said.

"They need a quality half but there's not many coming off contract, there's not too many around."

Panthers young gun Matt Burton is widely considered a superstar in the making but he is contracted until the end of next season and Barrett has been warned by Penrith not to use his role as an assistant coach for the premiership contenders to poach players for his new job.

That will likely force the search for a partner for Foran elsewhere and Johns named three players as options, all under contract but all in strong positions to get a release from their current club should a buyer come along.

"James Maloney's over at the Super League but he's coming right to the end," Johns said.

"I'd be buying Jack Bird and playing him as a running five-eighth outside Kieran Foran. But if they're going to have a running five-eighth then they need a world class fullback and there's not many of those around also."

Johns added that out of favour Wests Tigers captain Moses Mbye could be another option to play a similar role to Bird.

"Moses Mbye hasn't set the world on fire because they're playing him between positions. I see him as a running five-eighth, if you put him outside the right halfback and a certain way they play. I don't see him as a No.7," Johns said.

"Maybe (he'd be a good fit) back at the Bulldogs as a running five-eighth, depending on the way they play."

Both Bird and Mbye are on huge deals with their clubs, with Mbye reportedly on $815,000-a-season and Bird making $975,000-a-year at the Broncos.

Neither have played to that price tag, with Bird barely managing just 17 games in three injury-plagued seasons in Brisbane.

Should the Bulldogs be interested in either of those players they could make an offer at a significantly lower rate and force their current clubs to subsidise their salaries, with Bird's Broncos deal expiring at the end of next season and Mbye's Tigers deal running until the end of the 2022 season.

Mbye started his NRL career at the Bulldogs and was considered by many to be one of the superstars of his generation when he left for the Tigers at the end of the 2017 season.

He played in all three Origin games last season but has not been given a permanent position by Tigers coach Michael Maguire, which has made it difficult for him to play consistently at his best.

Bird has had a nightmare couple of years in Brisbane and there have been several reports that the former NSW Origin player and Sharks premiership star would welcome a return to Sydney, where he became one of the hottest properties in the game.

Jack Bird (left) has struggled to get on the field for the Broncos.

Johns was adamant that the spine was where Canterbury needed to focus their rebuild, praising the forward pack for "ripping in" throughout a lean period in the club's proud history.

He said Elliott had been a perfect example of that in recent seasons.

"Even though it's been a real poor couple of seasons for the Bulldogs he's been the shining light," Johns said.

"I thought all their forwards really rip in. It's a great signing, he seems like a really popular player and rips in every week, I think he's a rep player in waiting.

"Over the next four or five years we're going to see the best of Adam Elliott, it's a great signing.

"This year he might have pushed himself into that bench sort of spot (for NSW) but he'll play Origin within the next two to three years, that's for sure.

"He's got speed, he's got a big motor, and he's quick over the ground."