Six-time premiers Brisbane lost a chief executive and missed out on a superstar in the space of a few hours on a mad Monday.

Within hours of chief executive Bruno Cullen announcing he was stepping down at year's end, Melbourne Storm star Greg Inglis rejected a lucrative offer from the Broncos to head north in 2011.

Inglis is understood to have met Melbourne officials on Saturday who reluctantly gave him permission to negotiate with Brisbane.

He now seems certain to stay with the Storm, who are awaiting the findings of an independent forensic inquiry by audit accountancy firm Deloitte into their salary cap scandal.

Brisbane's general manager of football operations Andrew Gee had been conducting informal talks with Inglis's manager Allan Gainey for almost a month.

Gainey contacted him on Monday morning wanting to know what Brisbane were prepared to offer Inglis.

"He wanted to know quickly so we put our offer on the table," Gee told AAP on Monday.

"He contacted me later in the day and told me our offer had not been accepted.

"It (offer) was non-negotiable, so the deal is off."

It's understood Brisbane's offer to Inglis, who flagged a move to Brisbane for "personal" reasons, was not only "very attractive" but not open for debate.

"That's it. They asked for our best offer and we gave it to them," said Gee.

It's difficult to see any other NRL club, other than Brisbane, having enough money in their war chest to be able to afford Inglis and remain under the salary cap.

The Broncos have a surplus of money under the cap with Israel Folau's decision to following former teammate Karmichael Hunt across to the AFL next year.

Inglis reportedly earns $600,000 a season with Melbourne.

He would have been the perfect replacement for Folau, especially with concerns over the slow recovery from an Achilles injury by representative centre Justin Hodges.

The Australian and Queensland star cited personal reasons for seeking permission from Melbourne to negotiate with Brisbane.

He owns a house in suburban Paddington, 10 minutes from Brisbane's training headquarters, and his fiancee Sally Robinson works in Brisbane.

His close relationship with Queensland and Australian teammates Darren Lockyer, Sam Thaiday and Justin Hodges was another potential ace for Brisbane until Monday's decision.

Brisbane coach Ivan Henjak said Hodge's return from foot surgery was now a week-to-week proposition.

However, fears the 28-year-old may not get on the field this season have escalated with his progress slower than expected.

"We never really had a comeback game for Justin although we were hoping it was going to be the Tigers (in round 17)," said Henjak.

"We started having a few concerns about him a month before that game that he wasn't going to be right.

"I don't know when it's going to be now. It's probably a week-to-week thing, but he's going to need to show some real improvement to play.

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