More details on the Hopoate signing process

Paul Osborne didn't want to comment on when Parramatta knew Will Hopoate was coming to the club at today's press conference, but it was a done deal from at least August.

I have previously revealed that I was given information from a trusted member of this site from that time period that Hopoate was coming to the Eels. Now, that the signing if official, we can reveal more of those details.

That member is Bert Kenny, who many of you would know works in airport security, and has provided us with a lot of great stories about his chats with Eels officials and players.

At the start of August Bert messaged me to say he'd spoken to William's manage Tyran Smith. Smith had indicated that negotiations were taking place with Williams and at that time he was apparently still totally committed to his mormon mission. However, knowing Bert was an Eels fan he said "you'll be happy with the decision" that Hopoate was about to make.

I have reason to believe from bits and pieces I've picked up that Hopoate was probably coming to the club, well prior to that. It was just a matter of whether it would be 2012 or 2014.

At the time of receiving the information, we put it to the club that Hopoate was coming to the Eels, however, as I have noted previously, it was vehemently denied at the time. You can take it as given that the club is a lot more sensitive about saying anything at all in relation to future signings, and this was obviously a sensitive one. Due to that, I made a decision not to say anything more until more details came to light, which they obviously did over the last month.

I'd like to thank Bert for the information. The information was invaluable in piecing together what was happening from various sources. And for those of you who have been concerned about the club's ability to keep a secret, it's pretty obvious that the various leaks have come out of the Hopoate camp rather than from the Eels.

Bert had a few other interesting comments from Smith, but I'll let him reveal those himself, if he likes.

Surely we were in on him, would have come cheap and if anything like his brother would hav been good value. Dogs might have got a good one :(NRL 2026: Transfer Whispers, news, rumours, updates, Jesse McLean to join Bulldogs in 2027, Casey McLean

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Replies

eels fan forever October 6, 2011 at 11:01am

Nice one Bert!
HH - Love You Iongi Time! October 6, 2011 at 11:07am

Kudos to Bert mainly and the few others on here who had numerous tips regarding this major coup.
What else can you let out of the bag Bert?
fpv eel October 6, 2011 at 11:08am

Interesting.... Bert what else do you have??
AJAX October 6, 2011 at 12:06pm

...Juicy stuff. I love it! I wanna hear more.
Make Parra Great Again October 6, 2011 at 12:47pm

Thanx phil. Yeah back in august i had a great chat with tyran about the hoppa signing, i have met him a few times coming thru. Without saying straight out, i guess to protect the situation and sensitivity of it all, just indicated that i will be "very happy" with wills decision, he knows im a big eels fan. He told me a fair bit other stuff which will post up when i get home (on iphone at moment)... Reason i confided in phil was i didnt want this to go openly on a forum and jeopodise the site or tyran with the club.
Make Parra Great Again October 6, 2011 at 1:01pm

And also couldnt post up on here as u know the amount of blogs about rumours etc, people get hammered for their source etc.. I couldnt at the time
- Jimmy > Make Parra Great Again October 6, 2011 at 1:32pm
  
  Thanks for everything.
- Ham Sammich > Make Parra Great Again October 6, 2011 at 2:00pm
  
  Any chance that we are signing a player next year?
slip October 6, 2011 at 2:36pm

Wasn't Hopoate involved in a nightclub death last year? Is he a boxer, bouncer or footy coach?
- George Taylor > slip October 6, 2011 at 2:54pm
  
  http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/hopoate-charged-with-assault-as-lawyer-de...