NRL Market Watch 2023: Apisai Koroisau re-signs with Wests Tigers, Parramatta Eels eye Joey Lussick
The Wests Tigers signing spree has continued, with one of their biggest stars putting to bed any suggestion he wants out of the club. See the latest transfer news.
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Api Koroisau has put to bed any suggestion he wants out of the Wests Tigers after signing an extension that ties him to the club until the end of 2026.
A day after the Tigers announced the dual signatures of the Fainu brothers - Samuela and Latu - the club revealed that Koroisau would extend his stay for a further two seasons.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity to further demonstrate my commitment to the club,” said Koroisau.
“I’m excited for the present and the future, and I’m just so proud to be leading our team. I’m also excited to be working with the young talent we have coming through and helping them to become great NRL players “
Koroisau only joined the Tigers this season and there have been recent suggestions that he was frustrated with the club’s progress. However, the Tigers buried those claims as they celebrated a new deal for their captain.
“He is a great leader, and he has done a wonderful job this season,” said head coach Tim Sheens said.
“I think it’s tremendous news for our club and for Api.”
Koroisau has been one of the Tigers best players this season, having returned to action last weekend against the Knights after suffering a broken jaw in round 15.
That injury cost him his NSW jersey and prompted suggestions his season may be over. However, Koroisau was intent on coming back and helping the club avoid the wooden spoon.
Those hopes go on the line on Thursday night as they play St George Illawarra Dragons at WIN Stadium.
EELS LOOK OVERSEAS TO SOLVE HOOKER CRISIS
—David Riccio
Parramatta’s search to solve a hooker crisis at the club has travelled almost 17,000km to the UK.
Eels officials are in negotiations to bring Australian schoolboys hooker Joey Lussick back to the club.
Parramatta powerbrokers are hoping to strike a deal within the next 72 hours. The offer would also include a contract for 2024.
Lussick, 27, played nine NRL games with the Eels in 2021 before signing with the English Super League giants, St Helens.
His familiarity with the Eels system, the players and the coaching staff is a major lure for Parramatta to try and drop Lussick immediately back into the club’s first grade side.
Wests Tigers hooker Jake Simpkin has also been discussed as an option, but the Eels are aiming their target at Lussick due to his prior knowledge of the club’s style of play.
The Eels are clinging to seventh spot on the NRL ladder and are acutely aware that one more injury at dummy-half would force the need to pick players out of position to solve their issue at No.9.
The Eels dummy-half dilemma has been provoked by the news that high-profile recruit Josh Hodgson won’t play again this season due to neck surgery.
It has left the club needing to call on 16-game rookie Brendan Hands to play 80-minutes after beginning the year outside the club’s top-30 contracted players.
Hands has gone from earning 33-minutes from the interchange bench in his club debut in round four to needing to play the entire match in the middle of the field, as he did last Sunday against the Titans.
“It’s been tough for Hodgo. He had that neck injury and he had an operation on it,’’ Eels coach Brad Arther told NRL 360.
“He’s been trying to offer assistance to the boys with his knowledge and help out that way.
“He’s got some specialist appointments over the next couple of weeks. He definitely won’t play this year, what it means moving forward, that’s up to him.
“We are fortunate that we’ve got young Brendan Hands there who probably thought he might not have got a role this year, but he was thrown in the deep end and he did a really good job.
“Now he’s become reliable and is having to play 80-minutes for us week in, week out.’’
The Eels depth at hooker has been tested following a turnover of hookers over the past two seasons.
Reed Mahoney (Bulldogs), Ray Stone (Dolphins) and Mitch Rein (retired) were all used at hooker prior to the arrival of Hodgson and Hands.
The Eels face the Cowboys in Townsville this Saturday before tackling the Storm in Melbourne and would dearly like to add Lussick to their squad for the run to the finals.
EELS HOOKED
Parra’s dummy-halves over the past two seasons
Reed Mahoney - Bulldogs
Josh Hodgson - out for season
Mitch Rein - retired
Ray Stone - Dolphins
BENJI BOOST: TIGERS SNARE SOUGHT-AFTER FAINU BROTHERS
The beleaguered Wests Tigers have landed a signing coup by securing highly sought after teenagers Latu and Samuela Fainu on long term deals.
This masthead can confirm the brothers will leave the Manly Sea Eagles to link-up with the Tigers from 2024 on four year deals, respectively.
Both deals will see the brothers join the Tigers top 30 roster.
The Dolphins had also tabled Latu, 18, and Samuela, 19, a deal but it’s understood that offer was withdrawn last week.
The signature of Latu, a skilful five-eighth, will help solve one piece of the Tigers’ halves puzzle for 2024.
The Tigers are scrambling to shore up their halves stocks after halfback Luke Brooks agreed to join the Sea Eagles, having spent 11 seasons at Concord.
Five-eighth Adam Doueihi is expected to miss the bulk of next year as he recovers from a third ACL injury. While Brandon Wakeham remains unsigned for 2024.
The club will now turn its attention to securing a halfback and former Canberra no.7 Aidan Sezer is high on the priority list.
Assistant coach Benji Marshall has been given the all clear to sign Sezer after initially disagreeing with new recruitment boss Scott Fulton over the move.
Crown Sports director Mario Tartak, who manages the Fainu brothers, told this masthead that Fulton’s relationship with the youngsters, who he first met while at Manly, played a key role in luring Latu and Samuela to Concord.
“The relationship they have with Scott Fulton played a big part. Scott has known Latu since he was eight years old, and Samuela since he was nine years old,” Tartak said.
Marshall’s career as an NRL playmaker spanned almost two decades, where he played 346 games. The head coach in waiting will use that experience to provide Latu specialist one-on-one training to prepare him for round one in 2024.
“Benji has promised to have the best coaching structure the Tigers have ever had moving forward under his regime. He’s taken a massive interest in the brothers from the moment he met them. Benji came into the NRL as a teenager, and he can see a bit of himself in Latu and believes in his ability,” Tartak said.
Despite facing back-to-back wooden spoons, calls for CEO Justin Pascoe to resign and uncertainty in the coach’s box, Tartak is confident the club will turn a corner.
“The board, coach and recruitment boss believe and back these boys and will invest in them to ensure they go to the next level in their playing careers. But have also promised to look after their family second to none,” Tartak said.
Fresh from representing NSW in the under 19’s Origin, Latu and prop Samuela will join older brother Sione, 22, at the Tigers.
Latu had previously signed the richest deal by a rookie yet to play a single NRL match in a bid to keep him on the northern beaches.
The brothers also met with Canterbury’s head of football Phil Gould on Wednesday morning.
But it’s understood the meeting was nothing more than a catch-up, and that no formal offers or deals have been made by the Bulldogs.
Gould has taken an interest in the youngsters over the course of their development through the junior grades.
Earlier this week, Gould confirmed he had even visited Manase Fainu, the oldest of the four brothers, in prison.
A promising hooker, Manase was jailed in 2022 after he was found guilty in relation to a stabbing at a Mormon church back in 2019.
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