Pearce is believed to be leaning towards joining the Sea Eagles after the Roosters granted him a release, but will also consider pitches from Cronulla and Newcastle. The Sea Eagles hold appeal due to Pearce's respect for coach Trent Barrett, a bond that stretches back to their NSW halves combination from the 2010 State of Origin campaign.

Barrett has publicly and privately backed the halfback since and believes his addition to a spine that includes Daly Cherry-Evans, Tom Trbojevic and Apisai Koroisau will be the best in the game.

The biggest stumbling block to any Manly deal relates to their salary cap. The NRL integrity unit is completing the last interviews with Manly staffers this week in a bid to determine whether the club illegally overpaid players. NSW police formed Strike Force Nuralda to investigate match-fixing allegations and recently cleared the club of any wrongdoing. However, their probe unearthed potential salary cap breaches, which the NRL is in the process of following up.

Having interviewed staffers and other people of interest, the integrity unit is processing the information with a view to handing down a finding within a fortnight.

That timeline is likely to coincide with Pearce's decision on where he will play next year. Manly chairman Scott Penn is confident there won't be a case to answer.

"If someone has done something untoward, we'll deal with it at the time," Penn said last week.

"But I'm hugely confident there is absolutely no systemic issue. If anything's happened, it would be a one-off, if anything has happened. I'm confident I've not seen anything that has suggested something has happened."

While they await the NRL's ruling, the Sea Eagles are scrambling to make Pearce a competitive offer. As it stands, they are well short of the seven-figure-a-season deal the Knights are preparing that would make Pearce the highest-paid Newcastle player in history. The Sea Eagles are looking at the prospect of shuffling players or facilitating meetings with potential third-party sponsors in a bid to get the deal done.

Whatever Pearce decides, it will have ramifications for other players. Should Pearce shift to Cronulla, it will likely result in Valentine Holmes being pushed to the wing. The Kangaroos flanker has previously stated his desire to play fullback and may want out if another new Sharks recruit, Matt Moylan, gets the No.1 jersey. If Pearce goes to Newcastle, it will likely mean that Brock Lamb is squeezed out of the halves.

Pearce is unlikely to be the only marquee man on the move. The odds of Jarryd Hayne shifting from the Gold Coast back to Parramatta are firming, new Titans coach Garth Brennan conceding he is unlikely to have him at his disposal in 2018.

"There may be some merit to that, I'm not sure, but until I speak to Jarryd or his management I've just got to expect that he's going to be here after the new year ready to rip in," Brennan said when asked if Hayne might be moving on.

"I've left him alone on purpose to concentrate on Fiji.

"If Jarryd has some circumstances where he needs to be somewhere else then I'll deal with it when I have to."

Ironically, the Titans have done everything possible to placate Hayne on the holiday strip. Having already signed former Eels staffers Hayden Knowles and Craig Catterick - with whom Hayne is close - it is understood the Titans will add his former teammate and Eels under-20s coach Luke Burt to the staff.

Another potential Titans signing is Cronulla outside back Ricky Leutele. The premiership-winning three-quarter is keen to head north, where he has family ties.

With AAP