NRL transfer news: Wests Tigers star Luciano Leilua’s move to Cowboys confirmed

Luciano Leilua’s move to the Cowboys is official, and Wests Tigers director of football Tim Sheens has spoken about losing the club’s best forward.

Wests Tigers second-rower Luciano Leilua will play out the final year of his contract in 2022 before joining North Queensland.

The Tigers released a statement confirming the move on Thursday, a day after The Daily Telegraph broke the story online that Leilua was heading to North Queensland and had requested an early release from his contract.

That request hasn’t been granted and the Tigers said Leilua would honour his deal with the club for the upcoming season.

North Queensland also issued a statement, confirming that Leilua had signed a three-year deal to join the Townsville-based club.

“Luciano is developing into an 80-minute backrower and he has some tools in his kit bag that not a lot of other players possess. He’s a threat with the footy and he can create for others through his passing, offloading and his ability to break the line,” Cowboys general manager of football Micheal Luck said.

Luciano and Joey Leilua.

Losing Leilua is another massive recruitment blow for the Tigers.

The Cowboys have used the money they saved after missing out on barnstorming Penrith Panthers forward Viliame Kikau to sign Leilua.

The Daily Telegraph understands he will be paid $700,000 a season.

Whether Leilua is worth that much is debatable but the Cowboys officials were far more active to get the deal over the line.

It is known Leilua and his manager, Mario Tartak, have been disappointed with negotiations at the Wests Tigers for the last couple of months.

Little progress has been made since they began talks in August.

The signing of Isaiah Papili'i from the Parramatta Eels last week on a three-year deal worth more than $600,000 a season was the catalyst for Leilua to look elsewhere.

He felt undervalued.

The Leilua camp insists coach Michael Maguire is not the problem despite the coach’s well publicised falling out with his brother Joey.

It has more to do with the fact Wests Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe has not once spoken to Tartak about the negotiations since August.

Wests Tigers director of football Tim Sheens claims he was unaware of the move until contacted by The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday evening.

“We knew the Cowboys were negotiating,” Sheens said. “It sounded like a damn good offer. They had money stashed away for Kikau.”

The signing is a huge boost for the Cowboys.

Luciano Leilua wants to join the Cowboys immediately. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

At his best Leilua isn’t a long way behind Kikau.

He was the Wests Tigers’ best forward and second only to Adam Doueihi as the club’s best player.

The Cowboys will officially announce his signing on Thursday.

Unwanted Tiger Joey Leilua has signed a one-year deal to join English second-tier club Featherstone Rovers for next season.

Joey Leilua, uncontracted since finishing up with the Tigers, was preparing to fight former NRL star Chris Heighington on the undercard to the Paul Gallen-Josh Aloiai fight night in Newcastle on December 10, before it was cancelled due to a Covid-19 outbreak.

Both Manly prop Aloiai and Leilua have tested positive to Covid, becoming the first NRL players to do so.

Originally published as NRL transfer news: Wests Tigers star Luciano Leilua’s move to Cowboys confirmed