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Recently retired Cronulla champion Paul Gallen believes axed Newcastle centre Jesse Ramien will slip back into the Sharks' starting side in 2020.
Retired Cronulla captain Paul Gallen backs Jesse Ramien to form a deadly centre pairing with young gun Bronson Xerri should his Sharks contract be registered by the NRL.
The axed Newcastle star has reportedly agreed to a four-year-deal to join the Sharks from 2020, adding one more centre to a wealth of talent in the Shire.
The contract has not yet been registered by the NRL as the club looks for salary cap relief heading into next season and beyond.
Even with first-class centres Xerri, Josh Morris and Josh Dugan on the books for 2020, Gallen has believes Ramien would be the best right side option above the former representative stars.
"Hopefully the Sharks can get him here and he fits straight back in and he starts playing the football that he did when he was here," he told AAP.
"To think we could have him on the right and Bronson Xerri on the left, it's a pretty good centre pairing there.
"Hopefully Jesse can come back and do great things."
Adding Ramien to the already stacked backline would force a re-shuffle, however, the Sharks are reportedly looking to offload fullback Matt Moylan to the Wests Tigers to free up space in the salary cap.
Moylan is one of a handful of big-earners at the Sharks including halfback Shaun Johnson and Dugan.
In 2020 the club will also be operating with a salary cap reduced by $350,000 as an NRL imposed sanction for breaches dating back to 2013.
Should Moylan be released to join the Wests Tigers, it would force former State of Origin and Australia fullback Josh Dugan to take over the No.1 jersey full-time.
"Duges was one of our better players this year. He cops a lot of criticism, some deserved and some not deserved. He's big enough and ugly enough to understand that," Gallen said.
"The good thing is we've got depth around those positions and options and you'd rather have that than not have that.
"If (Dugan) doesn't play fullback he can just as easily play on the wing or slot into the centres or wherever there's injuries. Whatever is best for the team is the most important thing."
