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
MORE TO COME
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We are in a good spot in terms of what we offer. That I agree with. All well and good having a state of the art COE, representative Halfback, up and coming coach who many have been impressed with great fan base and stadium, and getting them to the stages of nearly signing them too, so there is interest from players somewhat. But that final hurdle, whatever it is, needs to be investigated and dealt with. Unfortunately the arrows point to MON or Sarantinos or both.
*We are in a good spot in terms of what we offer"
I know you're a youngster and bit green so ill help you out because I like you LB and I know you're a die hard eels fan.
Players don't give a flying fuck about stadiums , fan base or COE facilities, they care about $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ and going to a club that can help them make more $$$$$$$$ either through property investment or business investment opportunities .
The dragons have a number of property developers close to the club from the Wollongong area so no doubt KK was not only attracted to the terms the dragons offered but he would of been told of the off field opportunities that could be offered by joining the dragons.
When it comes to being a club that can offer players off field opportunities Parramatta are like a group 6 club in Dubbo .
Clubs don't win premierships because they have a nice stadium, big fan base or COE facilities, they win premiership by having the best people involved at club level and at Parramatta we are so far from having the best people running things that Jack Gibson and Alan Overton would be turning in their graves in disgust .
Well it was brought up to me today that on Josh Mansour podcast that Keaon and Su'A had a pact to play at Dragons together, Keaon nearly went years ago and pulled out last minute so could be a link.
When I say what we offer I'm saying the club has put themselves in a position to have these nice things, but still never guarentees anything aswell.
Sarantino is a useless turd burger .
A great spot - mmmm sorry Eli but i just don't see it. If we continue to miss out on signing class players and keep missing out on signing youngsters Ryles wants to keep within the club then that is not a great spot. Ryles is building but the sheer amount of players he has wanted and the club couldn't land them is astonishing.
Keeping money in the bank or in reserve on the cap for 2027 is not really an option when you absolutley must spend the salary cap your given within reason. All this means is that the lesser players less skilled players that we are left with, will be payed more because we must spend the cap. Keeping a million or so in the bank does not help us secure a premiership or play finals footy.
I love your positive outlook but seriously, we are supposed to be in the business of winning.
Keeping money from the cap helps as we have extra to spend the next year. Issue is not much to spend on.
Since Dragons sign Keaon I would look at their forwards, Couchman, Egan, Halangahu, Pasifiki-Tonga, the lot.
Lomax one it seems Ryles doesn't want a lot of money tied up on Wingers so that one I'm sort of ok with.
But yeah Pezet only getting him for one year when we wanted him long term, Anasta admitted it in interview don't care what anyone says, Galvin last minute went to Dogs and then Keaon.
This is on MON and Sarantinos, the coaches BA and Ryles do all they can in getting the player interested but MON's job as well as Sarantinos is to get it over the line.
Kelly deal even is a bit of a what the hell from me. We have a team full of young 20's and over 30's. Such a weird age bracket.
When did Anasta say Ryles wanted him for longer.
But that's the point Eli, we want all players wanting to join no matter what. Wests Tigers managed to get some decent players, now they haven't done that well, but still attracted players. We struggle more than them, why?
One positive, if there is one, is it seems players once they are here are more inclined to stay. Not all but more than normal. Getting most of them in is an issue.
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