Minniecon's agent Bernie Mandic yesterday revealed Fury had tried to lure Cairns-born Minniecon to Townsville with a $150,000+ junior marquee package.

But Mandic said Minniecon wanted to stay at Roar - and there was no way he would ever be going to join Fury, no matter what they offered.

Today though Fury chairman Don Matheson hit back and revealed it was Minniecon's uncle Nat - who has close ties to Fury - who was the go-between for Fury and Tahj.

"We're really disappointed," admitted Matheson. "They are trying to mislead the public.

"I don't see Tahj being worth the kind of money we were offering. We see him as being quite good with developing skills...but still lacking what we would consider he needs to be a great footballer.

"We would place a value on him of around $80/90,000 - but if he was under the right coach, he would develop into a marquee star.

"We approached him on a family basis and he came from this environment so he knew what he was here. It's a good family-based environment and not a hostile one for him."

He added: "There is no doubt they are trying to leverage us to get a better deal elsewhere and we're really disappointed by that.

"We're walking away from this not being able to see the advantage in paying that kind of money for the kid. On his current value, his management are kidding themselves."