St George Illawarra have landed a huge recruitment scalp by securing Australian star Keaon Koloamatangi to a long term near $5 million deal.

It is understood that Koloamatangi has told the Dragons he will join the club from 2027 on a five year deal. The contract is now in the cooling off period.

It is a clear circuit breaker for the Dragons who were in the market for a marquee player.

Koloamatangi’s current club South Sydney wanted to secure him as did Parramatta.

The Dragons though look set to land the prized recruit after gazumping the Eels and Rabbitohs with a monster five year deal

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        • He's definitely worth that price tag but that's not the hole we have at the club. Need more outside backs and a 5/8 for Mitch if possible. Would just be adding to our already solid pack 

    • St George also have gone for numerous top players and gotten hardly any, like us only gotten ones who nobody wants. Yet they beat us to this.

  • 1.1m is an overpay but I don't give a fuck because our R&R hasn't signed anybody of note since Lomax who was persuaded by BA's wife

    MON needs to go

  • Once again we can't sign a single player who is wanted by literally any other club. Even our own players. There's always reasons why we miss out but at some stage we need to make a statement. It's becoming farcical. 
    Gee I hope we have some unbelievable juniors coming through who are desperate to play for the Eels and get paid less than other clubs are offering. 

    • Parra seems to strike better signing guys who are hidden or under used. Soon as you get into bidding wars with clubs who are desperate and will pay 5 years 5 million that's where you run into trouble. Ryles has been very shrewd with Iongi, Kautoga, Jack Williams, ado Carr type signings. It's not always the big money super signings that lead to wins. 

      • You're apart of the problem, our R&R is terrible and you keep excusing them

        • 💯💯💯💯💯💯💯

        • Need to see how the 2026 team looks, probably the best looking side we have had since 2022. Lot of the players Ryles brought in seemed to be a hit. Expect guys like Kautgoa and Ryley smith to take another step forward as well. Will have plenty of time to adjust and add players on the market but let's see how this group goes next year first 

      • Agreed however occasionally you do need to land a big fish. We just lost the NZ 5/8 and the Australian/ NSW Origin winger. Replacing them with fringe first graders. It's admirable to make players better but we do need to have that elite quality if we ever want to seriously compete for a title. There's no best and fairest team award. 

        • There lies the problem, memberships will be up and crowds attendance will be up and that's all the care about. As long as dopes continue to spend their hard earned money on this rubbish why in the world would anything change? For god sake just go get Richardson and be done with it.

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HKF replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"The way it works now is you are signing players for 2 season from now not next season,  if we don't sign players for 2027 now then you don't get new players until 2028 at the earliest.  Sure, you might get lucky and someone falls into your lap for…"
3 minutes ago
LB replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Poppa it is more so the fact we go for players and get half of them, if they are chased by other clubs our odds drop massively. Look at our 3 signings for this year. JBD who was told by saints he wasn't wanted and we gave him a deal. Pezet who is…"
5 minutes ago
Blue Eel replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Pops I think your just playing the otherside to keep people honest. I cannot believe that you are not a little bit concerned about the amount of players they have negotiated with to come up empty. I for one don't need to know exactly what they did…"
6 minutes ago
Poupou Escobar replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"The rival offer definitely matter, because that's what we would've had to match to be a chance of signing him. Koloamatangi will be 33 at the end of this contract. Merkins said Paulo and RCG were signed too long and they were both 32 this year."
6 minutes ago
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