Sport Confidential: Fiji’s Pacific Championships run to have big implications for Wests Tigers
Wests Tigers fans will be cheering louder than Fiji Bati fans if the island nation can progress beyond the group stages of the Pacific Championship.
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Api Koroisau will be allowed to serve two of his three game ban for Fiji’s two pool games against PNG and Cook Islands.
Koroisau could also use the final to count to his ban should Fiji play an additional game.
The Tigers captain was hit with a three week suspension for a dangerous throw in their final game of the season.
BULLDOGS IDENTIFY ADDO-CARR REPLACEMENT
The Bulldogs are planning for life without Josh Addo-Carr with Canterbury emerging as Marcelo Montoya’s preferred destination.
It is understood that Montoya is on the verge of returning to Canterbury having been granted permission from the Warriors to talk with rival clubs.
The Tigers also expressed an interest in signing the Fijian international but the Bulldogs are now his most likely destination.
Montoya is likely to be granted a release from the final 12 months of his contract with the Warriors to link up with Canterbury. He made his debut at the Bulldogs and played 54 top grade games but it was with the Warriors where he has established himself as a regular first-grader.
“We were keen for Marcelo to see out his contract with us but we’re really pleased he has found a club back in Australia giving him longer term security,” said New Zealand Warriors general manager recruitment, pathways and development Andrew McFadden. “He has been a terrific person to have at our club for the last four seasons. He made a major contribution on and off the field and we wish him and his wife Tayla all the best for their future.”
The Montoya move comes as Addo-Carr is yet to decide on his long-term future after being granted permission to leave Canterbury. Addo-Carr has 12 months left on his deal with the Bulldogs but he has played his last game for the club.
KNIGHT IS HOT PROPERTY
Newcastle and New Zealand prop Leo Thompson is ready to spark a bidding war for his services after informing the Knights that he will head to November 1.
Newcastle have tabled an upgrade and extension to Thompson but the key forward wants to explore his options with a handful of clubs believed to be waiting in the wings to swoop on the 24-year-old.
Thompson is about to enter the final year of his deal with the Knights that is believed to pay him around $350,000 next season, well short of his market value.
Newcastle recruitment boss Peter O’Sullivan only joined the club midway through the year and Thompson has been one of his priorities as he looks to set the side up to challenge for a premiership in coming years.
O’Sullivan is believed to have weighed in with an upgrade for next season as well as a lucrative extension but Thompson wants to test his value before agreeing to any new deal.
Sport Confidential understands that Thompson hasn’t ruled out staying in Newcastle - his brother Tyrone will join the club next season from New Zealand rugby union.
However, his decision to head to market is expected to spark a scramble for his services given a handful of clubs have been monitoring the situation.
Thompson is unlikely to make any decision in the short term - he has been selected in the New Zealand squad for the Pacific Championships.
PAP’S BRAVENESS LAID BARE
Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen is clearly one of the toughest blokes in rugby league after starring for the Storm through the latter stages of the season with serious injuries that would have flattened most players.
Papenhuyzen’s heel problem was well documented but Sport Con can now reveal the lengths he went to as he chased a premiership. Papenhuyzen underwent a process called radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to deal with the issue, which involved sending radio waves into the affected area of his heel to destroy the nerve and stop it from sending pain signals to the brain.
The process is used to provide lasting relief for people with chronic pain. It is understood that Papenhuyzen was also dealing with a fracture in his leg that added to his discomfort. Papenhuyzen conceded he needed painkilling injections - often two or three - to play over the closing stages of the year.
It is understood he often needed painkilling injections to train as well. Sadly, his premiership quest came up short.
NRL-UNION AT WAR
Rugby league has landed another hammer blow on rugby union after flying teenager Callum Grantham agreed to a long-term deal at Cronulla - but a bigger battle is looming over another teenager regarded as a future superstar by both codes.
Sport Confidential understands that Grantham - a Waratahs under-16 representative - and his agent Michael Hudson agreed to a four-year extension with the Sharks after he starred this season for their Harold Matthews Cup (under-17s) side.
The goalkicking five-eighth was also a star in the junior athletics ranks, competing at national level over the 200m and 400m.
A schoolmate of Wests Tigers teenager Haemeasi Makasini at Newington College, Grantham took this year off rugby union to focus on rugby league and he has been rewarded with a new deal that will see him transition into the Sharks’ senior ranks in years to come.
As his future is settled, the battle for Penrith teenager Heinz Lemoto is set to begin in earnest. Lemoto, who is about to enter the final year of his contract at the Panthers, played alongside Makasini for the Australian schoolboys rugby union side that beat New Zealand a week ago.
Rugby union is already circling the teenager but they will need to beat a host of rugby league clubs to his signature.
Lemoto and his agent Craig Baker of Foundation Sports Group are in no hurry. Under NRL rules, he is prevented from speaking to rival clubs until round six next year.
That has given the Panthers and rugby union a rail’s run to jostle for his future in the short term. However, it seems unlikely that he or Rawlings will do anything until they gauge the interest in him from rival NRL sides, which means the fight for his signature is set to drag into the early months of next year.
Lemoto is in his final year at The Scots College.
BRONCOS LAND ELITE SIGNING
The Brisbane Broncos have been linked with Mal Meninga’s right-hand man with the Australian team - Troy Thomson - as they look to strengthen their football department.
Thomson, the NRL’s manager of elite performance and programs, has previously had roles at South Sydney and the Melbourne Rebels.
In more recent times he has worked with Meninga with the Kangaroos. It his understood the Broncos have identified Thomson as a potential target as they look to provide coach Michael Maguire with the artillery necessary to challenge for a premiership.
Maguire is set to start next season with a significantly-strengthened football department - Melbourne head of football Frank Ponissi and Newcastle’s Peter Parr have also been earmarked as targets.
CHOOK’S WING CLIPPED
Injured Roosters half Sam Walker has undergone another operation this time on his shoulder. Fresh from having his knee operated on to repair a damaged ACL, Walker recently had a shoulder clean-out to ensure his body is fully fit when he is able to return mid-way through next year.
SWANS GREAT HONOURED
Sydney Swans great, Paul Kelly, will be recognised as a Legend of NSW Sport at the NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony on November 25.
Kelly, considered one of the best AFL players of the mid-1990s, becomes the 25th NSW athlete and the first AFL player to be elevated to NSW Legend Status.
The awards ceremony will also celebrate five NSW sports icons inducted into the NSW Hall of Champions.
They are Suzy Batkovic (Basketball), Alex Blackwell (Cricket), Murray Braund (Surf Lifesaving), Pattie Dench (Sport Pistol) and Tim Gavin (Rugby Union).
FLASHBACK
Australia took steps to securing its cricket holy grail after beating India by 217 runs in the opening Test in Bangalore on this day 20 years ago. Future Test captain Michael Clarke scored a century on debut.
Originally published as Sport Confidential: Fiji’s Pacific Championships run to have big implications for Wests Tigers
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