Papenhuyzen breaks silence on playing future and R360 delay after Storm exit

Ryan Papenhuyzen has broken his silence over his shock decision to quit the Melbourne Storm, declaring he won’t be returning to the football field next year.

The 27-year-old fullback stunned the rugby league world when he walked away from his Storm deal worth about $925,000 a season to consider his future, increasing speculation he would join the rebel Rugby 360 competition.

However, R360 organisers last week announced the competition would be delayed until 2028.

Appearing on the golf course at the pro-am for the Australian Open at Royal Melbourne on Wednesday, Papenhuyzen spoke for the first time about the delays to the proposed rebel league, why he thinks it’s a positive development for players, and reiterating his views that he will take a “gap” year in 2026.

“All my mates and family think I’ve signed something somewhere, but I’m just not playing,” he said.

“All the reports are that I’ve been up in Sydney. I had a wedding in Wollongong the other day, so everyone thought I’d signed with the Dragons – it’s funny but until next year rolls around and I’m not on a team, that’s when people will probably believe me. It’s a circus right?”

Papenhuyzen was listed among the targets for R360 and he supports the concept because it could create more earning opportunities for players.

But he was non-committal about whether he would have any interest should the organisers find a way to get it up and running in 2028.

The Clive Churchill Medallist did have a playful dig at fellow NRL star Zac Lomax who was out of contract and said to be keen on a lucrative R360 deal before the delay set in.

“It’s funny that I’d always been pretty set that next year would be a gap year for sport in general and the only thing I’d be playing was golf, and I was pretty set on that,” Papenhuyzen said.

“So once it came out [the R360 delay], everyone was like ‘what are you going to do now?’ But the plan was to always have the year off and try a few things and see how that goes.

“That plan doesn’t change for me, maybe more [Zac] Lomax.”

When the itch to play footy arises in 2026, Papenhuyzen has tactics in place to stay the course and, if he comes back in future, all options will be on the table.

“I’m not sure but I’m sure I would weigh up all options if I had that feeling again,” he said.

“But right now, I’m looking at a blank canvas and I get to write that next chapter.”

‘All my mates and family think I’ve signed something somewhere, but I’m just not playing.’

Ryan Papenhuyzen about his playing future in 2026.

Papenhuyzen said he was mentoring young athletes and relishing the chance to share some of his lessons gleaned from his years at the top of the NRL.

“Using my experience of having a life coach and loving the psychology side of things – at the moment I’m doing some performance coaching for a few younger athletes and I’ve really enjoyed the start of that,” he said.

“I really benefited from that in my career, and hopefully I can share that message with people finding trouble – that’s the first thing I’ll start off with.

“I know I will miss it at some point but at the same time, I’m really enjoying all this stuff now. I’m sure when I have itchy feet, I’ll find other things to take my mind off it.”

Otherwise, he has aims to travel, playing golf, catch up with family and do the things he usually says “no” to due to NRL commitments.

“I’m actually caddying for Daniel Gale next week at the Cathedral Invitational, that could be the new career,” Papenhuyzen said.

“You never know. But those opportunities I wouldn’t have got to do [usually] as next week I would have been back at training, so I’ll grab onto those things now.”