Canterbury won’t allow Will Hopoate to skip Sunday matches in any future NRL deal, after he agreed to go back on the agreement for the rest of this season.

The off-contract Bulldogs fullback will fulfil a request from the club to play on Sundays this season, but in a “perfect world” he admits he wouldn’t be doing so.

Hopoate made that clear when he used that term on six occasions in a nine-minute press conference at Bulldogs headquarters on Monday, hours after telling teammates he would be available to play the Sydney Roosters this Sunday.

It will be Hopoate’s first Sunday match since joining the Bulldogs last year, when the devout Mormon made himself unavailable on the Sabbath Day.

However that will no longer be the case at Canterbury, with chief executive Raelene Castle confirming the Sunday clause will be a part of no future deal for Hopoate at Belmore.

“If we’re going to sign Will to a new contract next year, that would need to include playing Sundays,” Castle said.

Hopoate said he understood the request from the Bulldogs.

“In a perfect world I wouldn’t play,” Hopoate said.

“It’s something I’ve been churning over quite a bit in my heart and mind. Obviously I would love not to.

“But at the same time I have a duty to my employers and that’s the Canterbury Bulldogs at the moment.”

Hopoate will not train on Sundays or partake in any NRL activities other than matches for Canterbury.

He has played five Origins for NSW, and won a premiership for Manly in just his second season in 2011 before he took two years out of the game to go on a Mormon mission.

He said on Monday he wanted to remain at the Bulldogs beyond 2017, but revealed he would be receptive to offers from rival clubs that would allow him to sit out Sunday games.

“I’d definitely take that into consideration for sure,” Hopoate said.

The Bulldogs have a busy schedule of Sunday games through the Origin period.

After Sunday’s clash with the Roosters, they also have games against Penrith and Newcastle on Sunday afternoons, with the latter without their Origin players in round 18.

The 25-year-old has also starred on return from a serious facial injury in recent weeks, including a 313-metre running game on return against Canberra in round nine.

In the end, Castle said the club decided they simply needed him on the field.