- Rising Apa Twidle will leave the Parramatta Eels at the end of 2026 after agreeing to a three-year deal with the new Perth Bears (joining in 2027).
- The deal is in a cooling-off period, but he’s expected to go ahead with it because the offer is significantly better.
- Twidle burst onto the scene with a standout debut (2 tries in 3 minutes), which attracted strong interest from multiple clubs.
- Parramatta reportedly only offered a low-value development contract (~$80k), while Perth provided better financial security and opportunity.
- A key factor: the Bears are offering him a chance to play in the halves, rather than being used as a utility/backline option.
- He becomes one of the early signings helping build the Bears’ inaugural squad under coach Mal Meninga.
Bottom line:
Parramatta unearthed a serious talent, but underpaid and under-positioned him—Perth stepped in with money, role clarity, and long-term security, and likely pinched him.
Replies
Lorenzo is the long-term halves option and Twidle sees himself as a half. Would you rather lose Lorenzo? You're going to see more of this as new clubs enter the competition. Any young guy that performs is instantly going to have their value inflated. If clubs are offering contracts based off a 20 minute NRL cameo then you're operating blind as a recruiter. The coaches and development staff who have overseen Twidle's development would have a better idea of his ceiling in relation to that of Talataina.
Lorenzo being smaller than any first grade 6 I've seen worries me. Sure in attack he may excel but in defence i haven't seen enough of him to judge, but he's smaller than Jai Gray by the looks of it.
Renzo is 18, Twidle is 22. Which one is going to grow more? Renzo is a more than 80% tackle effectiveness so far in his NSW Cup career. It's actually the same as Mitch's career tackle effectiveness.
Renzo is 20 but yea I would take Renzo defence over Twiddle. Renzo actually puts his body in front of players. In SG Ball & JF I have seen Renzo absolutely fold forwards in half with a big hit. Not yet seen it in NSW Cup though.
Lots of Renzo miss tackles is similar to Volkman last week. He rushed out the line and makes strong contact to slow the attacker down whilst his teammates then come to make the tackle.
Yes many halves are maligned statsically......i take notice of stat's but trust my eye more e.g Kelly played pretty well last week
BUT i cannot believe he ran for 174 metres.
Another interesting thing that/can happens, is a player going in for a tackle effectively, stopping momentum, then running behind the player and completing the tackle why team mates are wrestlng with him. Now is the stat a missed tackle and a tackle or 2 tackles LOL
In the Bible there are something 30000 errors in its compilation, basically scribes were copying it for centurties with many, grammer and language interpretaions, I wonder how accurate some of the scribes are in football games, i.e the guys recording the stat's.....doesn't happen you might say,...... then go back to the Bunker and see how many have fcucked up trying to get something right.
Don't get me started on Cricket stats....there are no boundaries ......pun intended.
Poppa, over at the Rugby League Eyet Test, he compiles a "player contribution" Top 20 for each week. Kelly did not make that Top 20 in Round 7 vs Dogs but Penisini, JAC, Moses and Volkman did. Tries, try assists etc obviously bump scores.
But Kelly clearly played the role of work-horse: out of all 17 Eels players that day Kelly topped the metrics for runs (20) and all-run meters (174m), and was second for post-contact meters (61m; Paulo had 64m). Those stats from nrl.com but checking foxsportslab and Kelly still tops runs (20) and run-meters (166m) and is still second for post-contact meters (48m; Paulo first again with 56m).
I think it safe to say Ryles saw what some may have missed on the TV, hence Kelly instead of Nanva (who played well) in Round 8?
Along with everyone I am critical of Penisini's hands (wonky) and speed in defense (too many times letting the player go by), but I can see why Penisini made the RLET player contribution ranking: 15 runs for 153m, 58 post-contact meters, 8 tackle breaks, 1 line break, a try, fastest play-the-ball speed (2.77s) of any back and third overall (Williams 2.42s, JDB 2.41s) and only 2 missed tackles.
Exactly Super people have got to realise it's the nature of the beast
Lorenzo is tiny. Chris Sandow 2.0. Sack mark O'Neil. This is terrible management.
Also Iongi has to be one of the most overrated players in the entire nrl. Why does he have a mortgage on the fullback role?
Calling it now. Twidle will be a better player than Lorenzo or Iongi in 5 years time, and parra will be spewing they let the next Tedesco go for free. Lorenzo will be in the superleague or gone to park footy in 5 years time. Iongi will be nothing special either.
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