Premiership-winning utility Jack Bird is on the lookout for his fourth NRL club after being granted permission to test the market by the Wests Tigers, despite being contracted through to the end of 2026.
The 30-year-old signed with the Tigers this season on a two-year contract worth around $400,000 per year, after securing an early release from St George Illawarra.
After just 17 appearances in 2025 – mostly off the bench, with only two full 80-minute games – and having been relegated to 18th man in Round 10, followed by recent injury setbacks, Bird’s tenure at Concord now looks set to end far sooner than originally planned.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the utility player will be free to leave the Tigers at the end of the season, provided he secures a new contract elsewhere.
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The move is part of the club’s broader roster overhaul, as the Tigers prepare to reshape their Top 30 squad ahead of the 2026 season.
The club has already signed Ethan Roberts (Roosters), Javon Andrews (Titans), Jock Madden (Broncos), Kai Pearce-Paul (Knights) and Mavrik Geyer (Panthers), while also securing extensions for Adam Doueihi and Starford To’a, leaving little to no room for Bird.
The Daily Telegraph has reported that so far, no other NRL club has expressed interest in signing him.
Since debuting for Cronulla in 2015, Bird has played 173 first-grade games across stints with the Sharks, Brisbane Broncos, Dragons and now Tigers.
Once hailed as one of the competition’s brightest young talents, he earned five State of Origin caps for New South Wales between 2016 and 2017 and was a key member of the Sharks’ historic 2016 premiership-winning team.
However, injuries and inconsistent form have prevented him from recapturing that early success, leaving his next move in the NRL uncertain.