NRL 2022: Wests Tigers tried to talk Kelma Tuilagi out of joining Manly
He’d already signed a deal with Manly but that didn’t stop the Tigers from asking if Kelma Tuilagi really wanted to stay. Tuilagi explains why he said no.
NRL
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Emerging back-rower Kelma Tuilagi has revealed how he knocked back the Tigers again as he maintains his commitment to join the Sea Eagles next year.
Manly pounced in the pre-season to land 23-year-old on a three year deal despite playing just five top grade games at that stage.
This year though he has gone on to become one of the rare shining lights for the Tigers. He has impressed so much already this season that the Tigers inquired earlier this month if Tuilagi had any interest in remaining at the club.
Tuilagi said backing out of his Sea Eagles contract “never entered” his mind.
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“They gave me a chat about it,” Tuilagi confirmed, “I just told them what’s done is done. I can’t really do much. I told them my main focus is with (the Tigers) this year. I haven’t looked ahead for next year. I’m focused on playing every weekend because at the moment we are going through a tough time.
“It was them giving me a heads up. They wanted me. I told them last year I was waiting for an offer but it didn’t come. Manly was the first one. It wasn’t a sit down (chat). I told them what was going on. I told them the truth that whatever is happening next year I’m not focusing on it but right now I’m focusing on us.
“We didn’t take it as a serious chat.”
Despite the heightened interest off the field, Tuilagi is doing his best to stay on the paddock. He has had a spate of shoulder troubles this year but declared himself a certain starter to play the Eels on Monday.
Tuilagi damaged his AC joint earlier this year and had a grade one AC joint injury in his opposite shoulder against the Sharks last round.
“At training I can’t do much,” Tuilagi said. “It’s pretty sore. I’m doing rehab with both shoulders. That’s my main focus to get them right and to play every game.”
STOP BULLYING OUR HALFBACK: TIGERS CHAIRMAN DEFENDS BROOKS
Fired-up Wests Tigers chairman Lee Hagipantelis has described the suffocating scrutiny on club playmaker Luke Brooks as “tantamount to bullying”.
In a wide-ranging interview, Hagipantelis admitted he was “sad, disappointed and disheartened” at his club’s failure to win a match this season while claiming CEO Justin Pascoe’s controversial mid-season holiday was a “storm in a teacup”.
“Zero and five is the worst start to a season in our history. That can’t be denied and there is no point sugar-coating it,” Hagipantelis said.
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“We are all under the pump and are all feeling the pressure at the moment and correctly so but we will not be influenced and we don’t respond to outside noises, which is largely irrelevant for our purposes.”
In a bid to stop the rot, the often-maligned Brooks has been shifted to five-eighth for the Eels game with Jackson Hastings to become the dominant playmaker.
STOP BULLYING LUKE
Brooks has constantly attracted criticism and negativity throughout his 10-year year career at Concord.
“If it was in an employment environment, it would be tantamount to bullying,” said Hagipantelis, the principal of Brydens Lawyers. “The level of focus and attention on Luke I think is unwarranted and unhealthy. We speak often about welfare issues in the game. The level of scrutiny and criticism, I think, has been excessive.
“Luke has got a lot stronger intestinal fortitude than I have in the way he has dealt with all of this negative publicity and negative attention.
“I appreciate the importance of his role and the fact he’s a leader within the organisation and club and he is a footballer of exceptional ability and talent. I’m aware of the concerns with respect to fulfilment of that potential, we hear this.
“But from a club’s perspective, he has our full support. He is a Wests Tigers junior, is a one-club man and we’d love to see it remain like that and we’re certain it will. He is one member of a team and all the team accepts responsibility for the results.
“I thought he was incredible the way he stood there and explained himself and conducted himself so professionally at his media conference. It was a real credit to the young man.”
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
Hagipantelis was open and honest about his side’s horrible start to the season.
“Zero and five is the worst start to a season in our history,” he said. “That can’t be denied and there is no point sugar-coating it. We are bitterly disappointed with the start and it’s not what we anticipated or expected. We are in a difficult position.
“There are a lot of players out injured, players you would expect to be in our starting 17 so we were behind the eight-ball to begin with but that’s not an excuse and we’re not using it as an excuse.
“The fact is those that have selected to play have not played as well as what we had hoped and that is reflective in the results. But I know how committed and passionate they are and I know how committed and passionate Madge is. Everyone just has to work harder.
“We just have to turn it around and there is no alternative available to us.
“When you ask how we turn it around you’re talking about scoring points on the field or making tackles. They are all intrinsically the responsibility of the football department and head coach. But even more basic than that, it is the responsibility of the players.
“Everyone has to be at their best, everyone has to do better.”
WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER
Hagipantelis would never claim to be embarrassed by his beloved Wests Tigers.
“I don’t know if embarrassed is the correct word,” he said. “I’m sad and disappointed for our fans and members, as I am for ourselves as a club.
“I would never be embarrassed by my club but I disheartened that we haven’t been able to produce more for our fans and members.
“I don’t like to see us headlining day in, day out. The media attention on us at the moment is very unhealthy and particularly when it is focused on individuals. I feel for those individuals. Some are being blamed more than others, which I think is unfair.
“We are a club and we are in it together and we accept the highs and lows together. We’re very good click bait, the Wests Tigers.”
LET HIM HAVE A BREAK
Pascoe has been widely condemned for taking a mid-year family holiday to Northern Territory. Hagipantelis, though, is unconcerned given he claimed most employees worked remotely through Covid.
Asked whether he was okay with Pascoe holidaying in April, Hagipantelis said: “Absolutely. This is a storm in a tea cup and reflective of where we are at the moment on the ladder. People speak of it being poor optics well optics are in the eye of the beholder.
“There is nothing I can say or do that would change anyone’s view on the issue but from the board’s perspective it was a holiday that was approved and had been deferred a number of times as I understand by reason of Covid. It’s not an issue.
“The man is entitled to a break from his family. It is school holidays and he has young children. This is after two years where everyone has worked remotely through Covid. I haven’t seen much difference, I can assure you, with him physically being here or not. It makes no difference where he is.
“He is still available and I speak to him every day and multiple times. It’s no different to when he is here. I don’t see him every day but I speak to him every day. So from my perspective, nothing has changed.”
MADGE IS SAFE
The Daily Telegraph has been told by multiple sources there are no current moves to unseat Maguire.
“Michael Maguire is our NRL-contracted head coach,” Hagipantelis said. “That is the position. The scuttlebutt is not unexpected of course but we will not be influenced and we don’t respond to outside noises, which is largely irrelevant for our purposes.
“The outside noise is largely driven by agendas and particular narratives and I accept that. But it will not be determinative of any policy or course of conduct taken by the club.
“We are all under the pump and are all feeling the pressure at the moment and correctly so. It’s appropriate that we are under pressure but we are unified as a club. No-one will make any excuses or attempt to sugar-coat the start to this year.”
Asked whether losses over the next two games against Parramatta and Souths could force a coaching decision, Hagipantelis said: “I’m not a prophet so I can’t foresee what may or may not happen in the future.
“But if things become difficult then the club will have to adjust. The entire football department, all of us, will have do better and work harder and smarter.”
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