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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              • Let's just forget the fact that Ryles himself said it's MONs job during an interview discussing the acquisition of Joash.  And all the usual suspects told us " see MON is the man responsible for the recruiting " .  Myself and a few other MON knockers tipped our hats to him for getting that one done. 

                But when it's a missed target it all of a sudden is because Ryles was playing it smart and realised it wasn't in our best interest to pursue the player . 

                So when Arthur was here we missed all these players because of BA , and now we are still missing players and BA is gone.  Theres only two common denominators and ones  job title litterally includes heading up the R&R segment and the others is R&R . 

                • do you realise how misleading it is for you to be quoting facts wiz, between the hyperbole and deep fakes you are hardly a credible person......

        • Mate I'm angry, we let Lomax go without getting someone we couldn't even get Garrick, Galvin, Keaon to come yet we couldn't keep Pezet for additional years. Yet this recruitment has the balls to say we never offered 4 years. The R&R from BA era had to fuck off completely.

          • Team is heading in the right direction and our cap space is great heading into 2027. We in a great spot tbh 

            • 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. 

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More stuff to read

Cumberland Eel replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"Exactly. Cant see his inclusion in the Dragons team making them a premiership winning team "
2 minutes ago
Cʜɪᴇғy Mclovin 🐐 replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"How, they haven't got a halfback, Cody Walker is off contract,  They've lost Moale,  the only other rep player in their pack is Murray. 
Thats crap wiz"
4 minutes ago
Poupou Escobar replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"And if he's no good we don't extend him. He would be on a lot less next year than Koloamatangi at age 33 as well."
4 minutes ago
Poupou Escobar replied to ParramattaLurker's discussion St. George Illawarra Dragons secure Keaon Koloamatangi on long-term deal
"It's not about how much money we have, it's how many rich, dodgy fans we have able to pay players under the table. Bullshit TPAs or selling them cheap investments (real estate and shares in businesses)."
6 minutes ago
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