NRL 2021 contract news: Viliame Kikau, Tariq Sims, Joey Leilua, Tyrone Peachey, Ash Taylor, Mitch Rein
Off-contract and without a deal for 2022, Joey Leilua will mix things up to try and find a new club. Check out all the latest NRL transfer news.
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Joey Leilua is set to transform himself into a prop in an all you can eat bid to earn an NRL deal.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Leilua’s management has been marketing the off-contract centre as a front row forward with the unwanted Tiger poised to reinvent himself as a middle man.
“I think he would be absolutely devastating in the middle,” said Leilua’s agent Paul Sutton.
“There aren’t too many better ball runners then him in the game and he will have no trouble making the switch.”
Already weighing in at 106kg and standing at 186cm, the former winger is already bigger than props like Aiden Tolman and Dale Finucane.
And he is about to get even bigger.
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Without a deal and eyeing off a Super League switch, Leilua will bulk up in a bid to become a Jason Taumalolo like middleman and earn himself a new NRL deal.
“He could easily put on size,” Sutton said.
“But I think he is already plenty big enough. He is already around 110kg. He has both the size and the motor to play as a prop or on the backrow.”
Still just 29, Leilua has speed, power and skill – all the ingredients he will need to become successful as a middle forward.
He also has experience.
Sutton revealed that Leilua spent his youth playing exclusively as a forward. The former Raiders wrecking ball never wanted to be a back.
“He was always a back rower,” Sutton said.
“Always a forward. He played plenty of prop but was always an edge back rower when he got to the Roosters. It was only the fact that he played on the wing as 18-year-old in a grand final that turned him into a back. People saw how good he was out wide and it stuck. So he has never had that chance to prove himself as a forward.”
Sutton predicted a move into the middle would help Leilua recapture the type of form that helped take the Raiders to the NRL grandfinal in 2018.
“He is a player that needs to be involved,” Sutton said.
“He needs to get the ball in his hands and he would get plenty of that by making the switch.”
Sutton said two NRL clubs have already shown interest in signing the former Kiwi Test star as a prop.
LIGHTWEIGHT PROPS
James Fisher-Harris: 103kg, 187cm
Dale Finucane: 102kg, 188cm
Jai Arrow: 101kg, 189cm
Aiden Tolman: 102kg, 183cm
Luke Thompson: 102kg, 184cm
Hame Sele: 102kg, 182cm
EXCLUSIVE: PANTHERS’ BRUTAL SALARY CAP SQUEEZE TO PUSH STAR OUT
—Dean Ritchie
In a pre-finals shock, Penrith has admitted the club will almost certainly lose star forward Viliame Kikau after next season due to a top-heavy playing roster.
“It will be hard for us to keep him,” Panthers chairman Dave O’Neill said.
Kikau, 26, comes off contract after 2022 and can be approached by rival clubs from November 1. While the Panthers want to retain the 119kg Fijian giant, O’Neill conceded his club simply cannot match the $900,000-a-year offers being prepared for Kikau.
Penrith has a tight salary cap through a glamorous playing roster which includes top-end players Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo, Jarome Luai, Stephen Crichton and James Fisher-Harris.
“It will be hard for us to keep him because he is going to command big dollars, especially with the way he is playing at the moment,” said O’Neill, whose side is preparing for Saturday night’s qualifying final against Souths.
“We can’t keep all of them. That’s the nature of the game, (that’s being) realistic. The salary cap is there for a reason and we have to make sure we comply with it, which we do. “Unfortunately there will have to be decisions based on where people fit in the cap.
“We will have to address that after the season. I don’t know what sort of money Vili will command but I’m sure there will be clubs that will offer big dollars. It will be hard if the dollars being bandied around are true.
“We will try and do as much as we possibly can to keep him but, at the end of the day, it will, I suppose, all come down to the dollars. It will depend where Vili and his manager (George Christodolou) sit and whether he’s happy at Penrith.
“It will come down to what result you want for your family.
“We have definitely created a good charter out here where we’re building from within. It’s next man up, the production line. We just have to make sure there’s another Vili coming through, another Stephen Crichton, another Brian To’o, hopefully another Isaah Yeo.”
St George Illawarra was heavily linked to Kikau but it appears the club’s interest has waned.
The Dragons will continue to monitor the Kikau situation but won’t be drawn into paying around $900,000 for the Panthers wrecking ball. Saints are yet to make any formal contact with Christodolou.
Some recruitment managers believe Kikau is worth around $700,000 to $750,000 but other clubs are adamant he will fetch $900,000 a season, possibly even $1m.
New Zealand Warriors have cash to spend while Canberra, Sydney Roosters and Wests Tigers will also be linked to Kikau. Canterbury general manager of football Phil Gould enjoys a strong friendship with Kikau through their time together at Penrith.
O’Neill said his club was yet to officially speak to Kikau given Penrith was based in Queensland.
“Vili is coming off contact and I’m sure we would prefer he stays at our club but we’ve had no discussion with anyone at a recruitment and retention meeting or with any manager,” O’Neill said.
“I know there has been a lot of talk out there. Before lockdown we actually hadn’t discussed Vili at all. The good thing is Vili is signed for our club next year so we have a bit of time to work around it.
“From my perspective Vili has done an outstanding job for the club in the time he has been here. It’s been a little tricky with lockdown and the players being in Queensland.”
O’Neill also discussed the future of coach Ivan Cleary, who still has two years remaining on his current deal. While formal discussions about an extension haven’t yet started, O’Neill wants Cleary to stay long-term and the coach appears happy and settled.
“I have a good enough relationship with Ivan in that both of us will go and have a coffee and we will work it out. It won’t be dragged through the media,” O’Neill said.
“As far as I’m concerned, from my point of view, and I haven’t discussed it with the board, but Ivan’s going nowhere. What we have achieved in such a short period of time can go on. I’d have to discuss it with Ivan, his manager and the board.
“It’s hard at the moment because Ivan is in Queensland and we’re down here. I wouldn’t do it over the phone, I would wait to do it face-to-face. I know the board is extremely happy with the performances of the side. As far as I’m concerned, we’re not looking at changing our head coach.
“I’ve got a really good personal relationship with Ivan and we have been good mates since he came to Penrith. He knows where I stand and I know where he stands.”
DRAGONS LEAVE DOOR OPEN FOR SIMS
—Dean Ritchie
Despite speculation he was unwanted, St George Illawarra forward Tariq Sims is more than likely to wear the famous Red V again for next season.
Sims, 31, has a contract for 2022 and Dragons officials still want the Blues enforcer to honour the final year of his deal.
At this late stage, it is unlikely Sims could find a new club for next season and attain the contract money he would be seeking.
Sources close to St George Illawarra suggest Sims was never told he wasn’t wanted for next year – rather, if he could secure a new long-term deal elsewhere, then the Dragons would consider an early release.
It seems probable Sims will leave Saints but more likely for 2023 than next season.
There had been a link between Souths and Sims but Rabbitohs officials denied the hulking back-rower would be heading to Redfern. Having been forced to shed Jaydn Su’A, Souths claim the club doesn’t have the salary cap room for Sims.
Wests Tigers are being encouraged to consider Sims, who brings experience and a wonderful work ethic.
The Roosters continue to be linked to every player, Sims included.
There had been sustained speculation that Roosters back-rower Angus Crichton would return to rugby union to bid for a starting spot in the Wallabies’ 2023 World Cup campaign.
Rugby Australia sources claim Crichton isn’t being considered for a cross-code switch with Wallabies head coach Dave Rennie preferring to develop from within rugby union.
England’s Super league could be another option for Sims.
TITANS TO MAKE CALL ON OFF-CONTRACT STARS
—Travis Meyn
Tyrone Peachey has thrown his hand up for the Gold Coast’s No.6 jersey full-time as judgment day arrives for the Titans utility and fellow off-contract stars Ash Taylor and Mitch Rein.
The Titans will hold a crucial recruitment and retention committee meeting on Wednesday where the club will decide whether Peachey, Taylor and Rein have a future on the Gold Coast.
Titans coach Justin Holbrook is yet to inform three of the club’s most experienced players whether he plans to offer them deals for next season.
Taylor appears to be on death row after being axed on the eve of the playoffs, with Peachey to start at five-eighth in Saturday’s drought-breaking elimination final against the Roosters in Townsville.
Starting hooker Rein, a 207-game NRL veteran, is also in limbo after revealing he had been given no feedback from the club.
After playing at least five different positions over three years at the Titans, Peachey said he could be a long-term No.6 option for the club if they choose to retain him.
“It’s been enjoyable, before that I wasn’t playing too much and coming off the bench,” the former NSW Origin utility said.
“The coach had confidence in me to put me at five-eighth and I’ve been trying to play my best footy going into the finals.
“I’d love to think that (I could play five-eighth next year). I’m trying to put my best foot forward in these last couple of games.
“There’s no real six solidified for next year. If they do keep me and go with that, I’m all for it. (Being off-contract) is always in the conscience. We’re lucky we made the finals so I can keep playing footy and show them what I‘ve got.
“I’m hoping to stay on the Gold Coast. They’ve got a meeting on Wednesday to decide if they’re going to keep me or not.
“If not, I want to go to a competitive team. I’ve got plenty left in me.
“It (situation) is totally understandable. There’s a salary cap they’ve got to worry about and a lot of people they had to get sorted first.
“I know where I stand and what I’m worth. We’ve just both got to agree to what we want.
“Hopefully they keep me. I want to stay.”
In the final year of a $1 million-a-season contract, Taylor was given 16 games this season to prove to Holbrook he was the Gold Coast’s five-eighth answer.
But he was dropped for the last two games of the regular season as the Titans walked a finals tightrope, only qualifying in eighth spot after thrashing the Warriors 44-nil on Sunday.
Rein, 31, has played 70 games for the Titans over the past four seasons and is the club’s best dummy-half option.
He was dropped in favour of Erin Clark at times this year but hopes to extend his tenure at the Titans despite being left in the dark.
“It’s kind of there in the back of your mind but I’ve been in this position a couple of times,” he said.
“That’s just how footy is. You learn to deal with it. I’m still enjoying it and loving it. Hopefully I can land a contract soon or figure something out.
“It’s out of my control. I’ve just been having that approach for most of the year. The only thing I can control is how I’m playing and I’m doing the best I can there.
“I haven’t really heard anything from the club, to be honest. I haven’t got much feedback at all.
“When you’re in and out of the team it sucks. That’s just what happens in a team environment. There’s always people pushing for a spot.
“Those games where I wasn’t in, the coach didn’t think I was the best man for the job, that’s the way it is.
“I’ve still been training hard and doing everything I can. I’m going into the finals really keen. I’m going to make the most of it.
“Hopefully something will work out and my manager George (Mimis) can come to me with some positive news.”
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