Parramatta are facing a battle to keep boom rookie Apa Twidle.
Sport Confidential can reveal Twidle has attracted interest from three NRL rivals in the wake of his stunning two-try debut against the Wests Tigers on Easter Monday.
Twidle’s management has fielded an inquiry from Phil Gould’s Bulldogs and the Dolphins, while Mal Meninga’s Perth Bears are also watching the young gun closely.
Twidle is off-contract at season’s end and has been offered a development deal by the Eels for 2027.
But the Eels may have to up the ante following Twidle’s brilliant baptism against the Tigers, which has piqued the interest of NRL suitors.
The 21-year-old Kiwi is one of the most versatile players in the league, capable of playing wing, centre and in the halves.
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Does the head of recruitment answer to O'Neill?
Exactly. At the end of the day, O'neill is running the football department, no f ing passing the buck.
Again I would love him to stay but I am realistic that his path to FG is blocked at Eels. I would not be worried if he left personally. Iongi and Joash at the club. Then Bamblett and Davis in SG ball are absolute guns too. Personally for me, there are more priority juniors that we need to resign over Twiddle.
This is not be defending the RR team. I want them gone for their inability to land a big player.
In the end, if we are developing juniors, you would expect that a few come along and we already have better players in the positions they play. That's exactly how we got Iongi and Hopgood from Penrith. The key here is that we are keeping the best players in every position. At the moment we are in a difficult situation due to the lack of development in previous years creating gaps in certain positions. Now that we have a good crop of juniors coming through, not all of them will land an NRL job at Parra.
The other thing too is that players need to understand their role and development pathway. Apa is listed as a halfback, came into the NRL side on the wing then switched to fullback, where he has played most of his NSW Cup football. Does he or the club know what his best position is? For the likes of Iongi and Lorenzo it's clear, and those are the players you build squads around.
Ahh yes, train him well, let him display his wears, then let a bunch of other clubs inflate his value so we have to overpay for potential or lose another junior.
Masterstroke.
You realise these articles are planted by the player managers when clubs are asleep at the wheel? Yet again we've done this to ourselves.
Now we will either overpay or lose him. Spectacular. The infamous R&R committee living up to expectations. The fact that this even hit the media means they've already failed.
He can play anywhere in the backline and as such should be retained for his versatility we obviously can't sign anyone outside the club so re-sign him now to a top 30 contract next year
Anyone watching Blaize defence tonight. Worse than his defence at parra wow
He's had a shocker. A big reason for their loss. Preston got a saloon passage.
The only play Galvin has is his short pass to Preston. Ever dogs fan will tell you that. Yet Talagi did not look comfortable once. No shoulder in his tackles. As someone said. Panthers defence is actually vulnerable on their edges. But they normally so good with their possession and territory that teams don't get a chance to attack them
Yeah hidden defensive issues because penrith usually hold the ball more and control field position better. But tonight shows he still cant tackle.
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