Canberra Raiders circle Wests Tigers lock Martin Taupau and Junior Paulo from Parramatta Eels
Canberra are preparing to make audacious plays for Parramatta's Junior Paulo and Wests Tigers' Martin Taupau should the powerful forwards come onto the open market.
Paulo and Taupau are signed to their respective clubs until the end of next season but it is understood both are considering requesting early releases to continue their careers elsewhere. The Eels and Tigers want to keep their respective stars and have been in negotiations to upgrade and extend their contracts. However, both clubs are under salary cap pressure and the pair could potentially earn considerably more on the open market.
Even if they don't come to terms on extensions – Taupau has already rejected an offer to extend his stay at the joint-venture outfit – both players will have to stay put should the holding clubs ask them to see out the final year of their current commitments.
Taupau has gone from a fringe first-grader to a bona fide star since shifting from Canterbury to the Tigers, resulting in selection for the New Zealand Test side. Paulo is also an enforcer on the rise. The former Australian Schoolboy is 21, but has played for NSW at NYC level and could become a contender for senior State of Origin honours next season if he continues his rapid improvement.
Parramatta powerbrokers are aware of the interest from the Green Machine but are hoping Paulo will be a long-term player for the blue and golds. "I've spoken to Junior about upgrading and extending him out," said Eels coach Brad Arthur. "He's given every indication that's what he wants to do."
Taupau has raised the prospect of attempting to follow Jarryd Hayne to the NFL, but his priority is to remain in rugby league. The Raiders join Manly, South Sydney and the Gold Coast as clubs ready to pounce should the 25-year-old become a free agent. "Martin is a contracted player with Wests Tigers for the 2016 NRL season," said Tigers CEO Justin Pascoe. "He hasn't approached the club for a release and we expect to see him return to training following New Zealand's tour of the UK."
Taupau's future, and that of several other players, could hinge on whether the Tigers offload out-of-favour captain Robbie Farah. The Tigers are in talks with Sea Eagles rake Matt Ballin, which could result in a swap for Taupau. However, that may be contingent on whether Farah finds a new home or digs his heels in for the final two years of his $950,000-per season contract. The NSW dummy half has been threatened with the prospect of languishing in the NSW Cup if he doesn't move on. But in a separate interview, with Sky Sports Radio, Pascoe said Farah wouldn't automatically be dropped to reserve grade should he remain with the Tigers next year.
"Robbie, like any other player, will be assessed on his merit and what's in the best interest of the team at that particular time," Pascoe said. "I've also got to stress that no player, including Robbie, is permanently prohibited from playing first grade at any stage, just like no player is guaranteed of playing first grade."
The Raiders have already been active in the player market, signing Titans half Aidan Sezer, Newcastle hooker Adam Clydesdale and England international Elliot Whitehead for 2016. However, they still have money to spend after releasing a number of players, including David Shillington (Titans), Joel Edwards (Tigers), Mitch Cornish (Parramatta) and Josh McCrone (Dragons) in the off-season.
Heading their recruitment charge will be Peter Mullholland, who switched from the Dragons to replace David Hamilton.
"David Hamilton gave our club 17 years of wonderful service and helped us develop and recruit a number of NRL talented players who have gone on to achieve high levels in the sport," Raiders CEO Don Furner said. "Peter has fantastic experience in the NRL and in particular country and regional areas."
In other signing news, South Sydney confirmed the addition of Damien Cook to their roster. As revealed by Fairfax Media last month, the Bulldogs hooker will be a contender for the No.9 jersey vacated by Issac Luke's shift to the Warriors. And Eels fullback Reece Robinson has switched codes and signed with the Waratahs.
Replies
lol.
Terrible news this about junior, this will come back to bite us, the news seems to have really gained some momentum in the last 24 hours, very sad to see him go.
Adrians always got such good mail, he must have some quality contacts
Lol Snake. Adrian also said that Folau was also getting pushed out. That story was soon retracted. Most of the article is about Taupau. Don't sucked in by Adrian's fear mongering. He's a very unprofessional journalist who's feeding on this rumour and looking for clicks.
What sort of person would start rumours like that on the internet in the first place is all id like to know.
Are you actually serious? Mate rumours get started all the time. Journos take notice of them and deliberately build on them to draw attention to their articles. It becomes a whirlwind that started out of nothing. Rothfield a couple years back was pushing strong that Izzy Folau was set to join the Dogs. That never happened. Hooper was pushing strong that Foran was going to join the Roosters or the Dogs or anyone if the Eels deal fell through, which he said appeared likely. This is despite those teams not having any cap space. People on this site were saying that we'd signed Munster. That deal never got off the ground.
The Raiders may have inquired about Paulo, and from that some dope has got all excited and said that they have signed him. Why would Paulo want to go to Canberra? BA wants to keep him and he's under contract so Ricky doesn't really have any pulling power here. And you know what? This is exactly what Adrian wants. He's got Eels fans all worked up about it and I'd bet anything he's reading this forum and has a big smirk on his face pleased with the effect he's had. I seriously wouldn't worry mate.
EWRA..............please, lol
I love how journos in the off season run with a rumour based story to get an article, then it's proven wrong and the next day they run with a story saying it's not the case.
That's two stories for them when things are quiet.
Journos are lower than snakes belly.
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