NSW Waratahs close to signing Parramatta prop and former schoolboy rugby star Tepai Moeroa

The NSW Waratahs are close to luring Parramatta forward Tepai Moeroa into a cross code switch with the former Australian Schoolboys back poised to move back to the 15-man game.

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The NSW Waratahs are close to bringing Parramatta Eels forward Tepai Moeroa back to rugby union.

Moeroa has long resisted a return to the 15-man game despite Super Rugby clubs circling every time he has been off contract.

But the 23-year-old could jump ship at the end of the year with the Waratahs preparing to offer him a rich deal.

Moeroa was a rugby union schoolboy star. The Newington College-educated Moeroa played two years of Australian Schoolboy rugby and was part of Australia’s silver medal-winning Sevens team at the 2013 Youth Olympics in Sydney.

Moeroa dominated schoolboy rugby.

A centre in rugby, Moeroa made his NRL debut at the Eels in the back row in 2014 but has recently been used in the middle of the field as he has racked up 101 first-grade games.

Moeroa represented Cook Islands last Friday.

THE REAL REASON MANNAH FLIPPED

Tim Mannah’s mysterious backflip on joining the Wests Tigers can finally be explained.

Mannah was all set to join the cross-town rivals until the Eels refused to pay out an ambassador deal he had with the club.

The nasty rumour that went around social media as to the reasons for Mannah’s request for a release have been dismissed.

The ambassador role was too big for Mannah to knock back. The Tigers have since filled their 30-man roster with a development player.

PRICE WANTS TO HELP THE DOGS

Former Bulldogs captain Steve Price is looking to take on a more hands-on role at Canterbury and could fill the vacant general manager of football position.

Price has eased his way back into the fold at Belmore after being appointed to the club’s board last year.

Now the premiership winner could be making a move into a full-time position at the club who are in the midst of revamping their support staff. It will be the first permanent role he has had at the club since leaving for the Warriors at the end of 2004.

Price would have to stand-down from the board if he took on the task of the day to day running of the club’s football operations. Price lives on the Sunshine Coast but his daughter Jamie-Lynn is making a name for herself playing netball for GWS. The move won’t place any pressure on Dogs boss Andrew Hill.

The Bulldogs have filled one of their important roles having appointed Jack Mesley as their chief commercial officer. Mesley worked for Lion.

LISTEN! In a special one-on-one interview Matty sits down with Sam Burgess to talk through the highs and lows of his career, his desire to play at Manly and his venture into rugby union.

TRANSFER SAGA ROLLS ON

Brisbane are confident their decision to release Jaydn Su’A to South Sydney will stop a cheeky bid from the New Zealand Warriors to poach Matt Lodge or Tevita Pangai Jr.

The Warriors made a big-money double play to sign the pair, in the hope of maxing out Brisbane’s salary cap enough that they could land one of the forwards.

Broncos officials say the pair are close to committing their long-term futures to the club, after Su’A’s departure cleared salary cap space.

SWANS THROW THE GATES OPEN

Swans player Lewis Melican was all smiles with a bunch of Moore Park Tigers players who will be able to watch the Swans take on Gold Coast on Saturday for free. In partnership with Woolworths, the AFL is giving free entry to any game this weekend for children aged 12 and under. The Swans play the Suns at the SCG from 435pm.

All kids under 12 will get into the Swans game for free.

SHOOSH

— Which NRL club senior staff member was very quietly stood down after an incident on a recent road match?

— Which NRL coach has been seemingly frozen out of recruitment decisions?

— Which Origin player found out about his axing after receiving a text message from a family member?

SPOTTED

Sam Burgess wearing an old-school Australian cricket one-day shirt having lost a bet with teammate Adam Reynolds when England got rolled.

I lost my bet with @Rendiggiti $100 plus this for a day. I know which hurts me more pic.twitter.com/ZCCfA9uo2v

— Sam Burgess (@SamBurgess8) June 25, 2019

SAINTS WON’T GIVE UP ON JDB

ST George Illawarra will keep Jack de Belin in their 30-man roster in the hope he will make a return before season’s end.

While the Dragons added Patrick Kaufusi last week, they still had one space to fill and had been on the look out for an outside back.

BIG IS BEAUTIFUL FOR BLUES

The Blues have made a habit of picking five-eighths tipping the scales around the 100kg mark.

With 95kg back-rower Wade Graham ready to be parachuted in to the No.6 jersey if halfback Nathan Cleary doesn’t overcome an ankle injury, he will join the likes of big boppers Shaun Timmins (103kg), Greg Bird (102kg), Braith Anasta (97kg) and Brad Fittler (96kg).

Club teammate Josh Morris gave a rare insight into what makes Graham such a valuable ballplayer, even though they have played just two games together on Cronulla’s left edge as Graham continues his path back from injury.

Shaun Timmins is one of a number of big Blues five-eighths. Picture by Gregg Porteous.

“He lets me know what he is thinking and what he wants to do and I just react to that,” Morris said. “It’s different. It’s not something I’ve had (from a back-rower) before. I just have to get myself in the right position and let him do the work.”

Morris hasn’t given up hope of returning to the Blues team for game three. He made a strong return coming out of representative retirement in Origin I before being overlooked for game two.

“I love every minute of watching it,” Morris said. “To put that score on it was pretty good to watch.

“The desire is still there. It’s one of those things, you get a taste and you want more. If I was there to do a job for one game or two or three it is what it is. If I got another chance I know I’m up to it. I had a pretty decent game in game one. I’m proud of what I did.”

CASH MONEY WHISPERER

Before Origin I the Coach Whisperer, Bradley Charles Stubbs, was worth $5500 an hour.

After Origin I, and the Queensland victory, his price almost doubled to $10,000 an hour.

Alas, the Maroons lost Origin II and so we placed a call to the Whisperer’s celebrity agent Max Markson to see how much his whispers had depreciated.

“It’s a three-game series,” Markson said. “I’m sure they’ll win and it will be done, done, done.”

Cha-ching.

TICKET SALES HEAT UP FOR DECIDER

Of course nobody was happier to see the Blues storm to victory than the NRL.

With ticket sales for the Game III decider slow, a dead rubber would have been a financial bloodbath.

But as the tries clicked up during the second half more than 7000 tickets were sold in a five minute period.

The size of the Blues’ victory as has been a huge bonus for sales, the NRL unwilling to concede just how important the added tickets sales were needed.

CAN TIGERS LEAGUES CLUB LIVE AGAIN?

Inner West Council has approved a new development control plan for the former Balmain Leagues Club site which the mayor hopes will save Balmain from extinction.

The approval of the revised plans removes the last regulatory hurdle at council level to allow a development to proceed on the site which will include a Tigers Leagues Club.

Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne said, despite council’s approval, the future of the club remained in doubt with the NSW government working behind the scenes to compulsorily acquire the land to use as a large-scale tunnelling site for the proposed Western Harbour Tunnel.

Byrne has called on Wests Tigers chairman Barry O’Farrell to intervene,

“This has been a long drawn-out saga but with revised plans now approved there is no impediment from council to the Tigers returning to their spiritual home,” Byrne said. “I am respectively asking Barry O’Farrell to do everything in his power to ensure Balmain Tigers return to their spiritual home.

“The very survival of the Tigers depends on preventing the state government from snatching this site. The compulsory acquisition of the property would leave the Tigers without a cent of compensation.”

RIP IN MAROON

Former NRL star Willie Peters was almost an accidental hero during the week when he spotted what he thought was an elderly woman fending off a bag snatcher at Maroubra Beach.

Peters, an assistant coach at the Rabbitohs, was about to leap to her rescue but thankfully as he neared he realised it was actually Triple M’s NRL on Sunday host Anthony Maroon doing a boxing class with former South Sydney hardman Scott Geddes.

Former South Sydney NRL player Scott Geddes with Triple M presenter Anthony Maroon.

Just to bear witness it was actually Maroon and not an attack, Peters snapped us a photo.

Peters later spoke to another of Maroon’s colleagues, champion NSW Blues player Shaun Timmins, who brought it to our attention.

“He’s the only bloke I’ve ever seen boxing with a pair of glasses on,” Timmins said.

“They weren’t fogging up either, so I’m not sure how much he was having a go.”

The photograph has thrown Maroon’s reputation as one of Sydney’s fittest men over 50 into question.

SEA EAGLES WON’T SWEAT THE TURBOS

Manly have no fears they will be able to afford the Trbojevic brothers when they come off contract next season, despite other clubs circling with extra large cheque books.

The Sea Eagles, remember, have an extra $330,000 falling into their cap after coming off the penalty for salary cap cheating two years ago.

Originally published as NSW Waratahs close to signing Parramatta prop and former schoolboy rugby star Tepai Moeroa