By Dan Walsh and Billie Eder
Wests Tigers have secured a much-needed recruitment win by signing rising stars Samuela and Latu Fainu with lucrative four-year deals.
As reported by this masthead, the Tigers have pursued the Fainu brothers with serious interest since they were granted permission by Manly to negotiate with rivals.
The pair are due to join the Tigers from November 1 and are seen as two of the best youngsters in the game after Latu, a five-eighth, and Samuela, a forward, performed strongly in NSW’s under-19s State of Origin victory last week.
Canterbury never weighed in with an offer for the pair despite club supremo Phil Gould’s visit to their incarcerated brother Manase in prison while the Dolphins withdrew from negotiations late in the piece.
The signings cap yet another dramatic week in which the joint-venture’s recruitment strategies came under the microscope following clashes between head coach in-waiting Benji Marshall and newly appointed talent scout Scott Fulton.
Fulton’s western Sydney connections and relationships with several player agents, including Mario Tartak, who manages the Fainu brothers, has long been seen as key to the club’s pursuit of the pair.
This masthead has been told by several sources that suggestions of coaching reinforcements being added to the Tigers staff - with sacked Titans boss Justin Holbrook and Rabbitohs assistant John Morris among the options - have been mentioned in recent recruitment negotiations with prospective players.
Fulton’s appointment by the Tigers board without consulting Marshall or current coach Tim Sheens led to escalating tensions that required intervention from CEO Justin Pascoe earlier in the week, with Marshall and Fulton vowing to work together.
The signing of 18-year-old Latu Fainu especially, is seen as a move toward shoring up the revolving scrumbase at Concord, but there are realistic expectations that he is still not ready for a full season of first grade from 2024.
Former Raiders halfback Aidan Sezer has since been targeted as a short-term fix from the English Super League, where his form has been middling since leaving the NRL in 2019.
Speaking on Wednesday before the Fainus had committed to the Tigers, Sheens said a board meeting at the start of the week saw he and Marshall address club powerbrokers on the club’s recruitment processes and the relationship between Marshall and Fulton.
“I don’t think there’s going to be an issue where someone can’t work with someone,” Sheens said of the backroom drama.
“We’ve all got to be professional in these sorts of situations and that’s what I would expect from both guys.
“It’s about recruitment, that’s what we’re doing all the time is talking about our recruitment, not only from the outside in, bringing people in, or what we’ve got to do is our own juniors, our own kids, and obviously the halves situation at the club by way of experiences halves isn’t obvious.”
Marshall has taken on increasing responsibility in preparation for replacing Sheens as the veteran coach insisted once again he will not move on from the position sooner than originally planned, at the end of 2024.
He did concede though that off-contract utility Daine Laurie, who has been in talks with Penrith about a return to his junior club next season, has his own contract call to make as the Tigers have waited him to return to the paddock.
Laurie is named to partner Brandon Wakeham in the halves against fellow cellar dwellers St George Illawarra on Thursday night.
“That hasn’t been decided yet as to what [Laurie] wants to do,” Sheens said.
“He would have been playing six probably three weeks ago, except he had an injury, that head concussion then a leg injury, so we will need to see him play the next two or three games in that position and we’ll make a decision from there.”
Elsewhere, Parramatta are expected to ramp up their own search for a short-term hooker signing before the August mid-season transfer deadline after confirmation Josh Hodgson will miss the rest of the season due to a neck injury.
Hodgson underwent surgery recently and hasn’t played since mid-May, leaving the Eels short at dummy-half despite the emergence of rookie No.9 Brendan Hands.
Hodgson, 33, has already taken up an option in his contract for 2024 valued at approximately $450,000.
Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on 9Now.
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.