SPECULATION in the Australian press suggesting NRL side South Sydney are targeting England prop Luke Thompson has provoked an angry response from Saints chairman Eamonn McManus.

The report linked England boss Wayne Bennett's club South Sydney with a move on the 24-year-old front rower.

Thompson was Super League's stand-out prop last season and forced his way into the England reckoning where his performances in the test series against the Kiwis put him on the radar of a host of NRL clubs.

But McManus has spelled out that the homegrown prop, who has been nurtured by the club for 10 years, is going nowhere and is contracted until the end of 2020.

And Saints boss Justin Holbrook, when asked about Thompson's status, echoed that saying: "Luke Thompson is here this year and next year and that is not going to change at all."