NRL transfers: Dylan Napa signs with UK Super League club Catalans
Dylan Napa has joined an ex-teammate in the UK Super League. Find out where the prop is playing and who he is linking up with.
NRL
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Former Queensland State of Origin prop Dylan Napa has joined his old Sydney Roosters teammate Mitchell Pearce at Catalans in the UK Super League.
The French club confirmed a two-year deal with an option for a third season on Thursday after The Daily Telegraph broke the story earlier this month.
Three Super League clubs – Catalans, Leeds and Hull Kingston Rovers – had all offered Napa an opportunity to earn around $800,000 over two years.
But the chance to play alongside halfback Pearce and under Steve McNamara, his old assistant coach at the Roosters was too good to pass up.
“To see the progress the club has made in the past years is an environment I want to grow as a player but just as importantly as a person,” Napa said in a statement released by The Catalans.
McNamara can’t wait to coach Napa again.
“Having worked closely with Dylan at the Roosters, I know first-hand the impact he can have in this competition,” he said.
“I spoke many times with him throughout the negotiations and his will, desire and enthusiasm to get back to his best form was overwhelming.”
HODGSON’S WESTS TIGERS MOVE SCRAPPED
Michael Carayannis, Brent Read
Wests Tigers pursuit of Josh Hodgson is officially over with the hooker expected to see out the remaining season on his contract.
Talks between the Tigers and the Raiders have formally broken down despite months of negotiations.
The Tigers were keen on bringing the English international to the club for the next two years and Hodgson was keen to link up with coach Michael Maguire.
However the clubs have been unable to find middle ground in how they would split Hodgson’s final year of his contract – worth about $800,000.
The Tigers were keen to pay $500,000 but the Raiders wanted more of a contribution. In the end, talks at this stage have broken down.
Hodgson has already returned to pre-season training with Canberra. The ex-Canberra skipper will act as an insurance policy for Tom Starling who has an ongoing court appearance.
The Tigers have Jacob Liddle, Jake Simpkin and even new recruit Jackson Hastings as potential dummy half options.
HODGSON MOVE IN CRISIS
By Paul Crawley
Josh Hodgson’s highly speculated move to Wests Tigers is on the verge of completely falling over.
It is understood the Tigers have set a deadline of the close of business on Monday to know one way or another if there is any chance of negotiations proceeding.
But unless there is an 11th hour change of heart it appears Hodgson will be staying put for the final year of his current deal.
It’s been suggested that the Tigers only want to pay Hodgson $500,000-a-season to make the move, but would offer him a two-year deal.
But given he is currently on a reported $850,000-plus, that would still mean a significant pay cut for this coming season, although he has been paid the first month of his 2022 salary worth an estimated $70,000.
The Raiders are also reluctant to let Hodgson go given the current uncertainty surrounding Tom Starling’s potential availability for the start of the new season.
Starling will front court in the new year over an alleged incident outside a Central Coast establishment that has resulted in police charges.
The Raiders were at one point interested in a potential swap between Hodgson and Jacob Liddle but nothing has come of that.
The Raiders have maintained all along that there is no ongoing drama between Ricky Stuart and Hodgson relating back to George Williams’ controversial exit earlier this year.
Sharks make key move in red-hot hooking market
By David Riccio
Cronulla have moved to take rising star Blayke Brailey off the dummy-half merry-go-round by tabling a new three-year deal.
The NSW Emerging Blues hooker remains on the open market with his current Cronulla Sharks contract due to expire at the end of the 2022 season.
The threat of rival hookers Brandon Smith, Reed Mahoney, Api Koroisau and Josh Hodgson creating a tailspin of demand for class dummy-halves across the NRL is a contributing factor in the Sharks wanting to take Brailey out of the shop window.
The Sharks, led by coach Craig Fitzgibbon, have made it clear to Brailey’s manager David Riolo that they want the NSW under-20s hooker locked-in at the club for at least the next three years.
In his third season of NRL, Brailey has held his own during a turbulent period for the Sharks that has been underlined by the fact that for the past two seasons, there has been little or no back-up dummy-half at the club.
As a consequence, Brailey, 23, has been forced to display his durability, playing 20 and 24-games respectively over the past two seasons.
In 2022, high-profile Dragons recruit Cam McInnes and Queensland Cup Player of the Year, Jayden Berrell, will provide depth at dummy-half.
A Cronulla local junior, Brailey has indicated his preference is to remain in the black, white and blue, but to date no contract extension has been signed.
Negotiations between the Sharks and Riolo were on-going on Wednesday.
Tigers set to lock down monster talent
— Brent Read
Wests Tigers are preparing to upgrade and extend the contract of young star Stefano Utoikamanu but it is the future of Luke Brooks that will come under fresh scrutiny on Wednesday as the club’s big names return to training.
News Corp understands that Brooks has undergone a Covid test and submitted the paperwork in preparation for his return – Tigers players were required to return negative tests within 48 hours of returning to training under NRL guidelines.
The fact Brooks underwent a test and submitted documentation to the Tigers is the surest sign yet that the No. 7 plans to honour the final two years of his deal – or alternatively, isn’t willing to force through a move by staying away.
Along with other senior players, Brooks will pick up his training gear, and undergo testing and wellbeing screening under the watchful eye of coach Michael Maguire. He will also be able to lean on former NSW half Brett Kimmorley, who joined the club last year as pathways manager but has been given extra responsibility this year with the NRL side as a consultant to the spine.
It means Brooks and the other halves at the club will have unprecedented access to not just Kimmorley, but club legend Benji Marshall this season. While Marshall’s exact role is still to be defined, Kimmorley has already started working with the younger members of the spine and will be available to Brooks and the remainder of the first grade squad when they return this week.
“His job was mainly the halves and I pushed it through to the spine because the four of them need to work together,” Tigers head of football Tim Sheens said.
“He is basically consulting the senior side as well. He will have a hands-on (role). He is a halfback to talk to – halfbacks like to talk to halfbacks.
“At the end of the day that gives them a source and someone to sit down with and have a look at their game during the year.
“Hopefully it will work smoothly. He is a good teacher Noddy (Kimmorley). I am finding that he is really clued up on how to pass things on.”
The players are expected to hit the training paddock on Thursday and all eyes will be on Brooks amid ongoing speculation that Newcastle continue to see him as the successor to Mitchell Pearce in the No. 7 jersey.
Brooks has two years to run on his existing deal but his future has dominated column inches over the off-season, prompting the club at one point to release a statement insisting he was central to their plans.
Having allowed Pearce to exit his contract a year ahead of schedule to join Super League side Catalans, Newcastle are understood to want a halfback because it would be the least disruption to their spine.
At the same time, the Tigers are juggling numerous balls as they look to finalise their roster. As it stands, Brooks will start the season at halfback and the only question as far as the Tigers are concerned is who will be passing him the ball out of dummy half.
The Tigers’ pursuit of Josh Hodgson has stalled as Canberra refuse to budge on their No. 9 while doubt remains over their alternative hooker, Tom Starling. Starling is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday as part of a bail review but it could be some time before the Raiders have some clarity around his future.
With that in mind, the club has been reluctant to engage in talks with the Tigers over Hodgson, particularly in light of the fact that the Tigers want the Raiders to contribute heavily this season to smooth to move.
There is one thing the Tigers can be certain about and that is that Utoikamanu is going nowhere. The young prop was called into the extended NSW squad this year by Blues coach Brad Fittler, a pointer to the fact that representative football is on the horizon.
The Tigers want to ensure he is in for the long haul and the club has begun initial talks with his management over an upgrade and extension to his existing deal.
Utoikamanu is contracted until the end of 2023 and the Tigers want to push that out for as much as two years, while at the same time rewarding him with an upgrade the existing years of his deal.
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