Summary:
- The Newcastle Knights have secured a major signing, landing forward Marata Niukore on a three-year deal starting in 2027.
- Niukore leaves the New Zealand Warriors seeking a fresh opportunity amid rising competition and is seen as a versatile, high-quality addition to Newcastle’s pack.
- The move is viewed as a significant boost for the Knights, who are building momentum and strengthening their roster for the future.
Replies
Good on him.
Warriors have a bunch of young up n coming backrowers going through there.
Loved Nuikore at the eels he's one of those players that gave us an edge.
I wonder in MON even knew he was available?
Sometimes managers only reach out to certain clubs they want their player to go to or where they represent the coach or other players.
Some players ignore offers from other clubs to play with friends or location of the club as well. This is Nikore last contract so maybe he wants to retire on the coast so they went to Newcastle first or he has family and friends there.
I have heard a few of the managers previously involved in Cap rorting are still off Parra and I know 1 player who ended up going to a different club but found out afterwards Parra were interested but player wasn't told about the offer from their manager they then sacked. Maybe that is why Parra have announced chasing some players but not others.
Some clubs have relationships with agents where they the pay agent separately on top of their commission from the contract. People think the 2 main reasons for players to choose a club are money and results but grudges, dirty tricks and other factors related to both player or agent are also involved
Mutts you are saying you want someone who will be 31 next year and has missed a fair bit of football here next year?
R&R not great but you don't sign for sake of it and just commenting on every player that signs elsewhere from here is ridiculous.
Niukore is not what we need.
Is he better than Kautoga and Tuilagi?
Not when he is missing most games and having short pre-seasons. Why sign a who will be turning 31 year old when we get him? We are getting Su'A who will be turning 30. We need to get younger. We shouldn't be signing for sake of signing as we fall down the same path. He may have an alright 2027 but then will decline as he gets older.
You realise there's not much difference between 30 and 31?
We don't know what the deal is either. But one would think the Knights don't have much cap space and they still managed to fit him in. Niukore can play edge and middle. He's better than most of what we have.
Mate don't insult me. I'm saying we already have a back-rower who will be 30, Williams will be 31 next year added with Walker and Paulo more likely staying. We have enough over 30.
Secondly, again you are just signing for the sake of signing. What if we sign him and he either 1) is constantly injured or banged up or 2) plays average due to a decline in his game? Then we set us back even further.
You don't just sign for the sake of it. Simple as that. You can make things worse doing that.
Also, who is to say MON and Rogers looked at Niukore and Ryles said no? Who will you blame then?
You keep saying signing for the sake of it. I'm saying he's better than almost all our forwards. He's also a hard fucker who could help tighten up our first up contact which is currenlty the worst in the entire NRL. I'm not sure who you're waiting for to sign or how ' we could make things worse?' It's basically as bad as it gets right now.
Niukore was very close to BA and his family (BA's wife looked after the kids so Marata could train, his wife was bedridden at the time).....why am I saying this, I can only guess but I think he sees himself being loyal to BA because of those commitments, otherwise I think he would have approached us through that loyalty.
Obviously still a lot of bad blood over BA's sacking.
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