Utoikamanu gone

The Wests Tigers have snuck under the guard of Parramatta to steal one of the hottest young talents in the game on a three-year deal.

The Tigers have secured the services of hulking prop Stefano Utoikamanu from 2021 with one of the largest contracts for a player yet to make his NRL debut, understood to be worth around $800,000.

Parramatta were desperate to retain the 192cm, 115kg teenage sensation, who has drawn comparisons to Broncos sensation Payne Haas.

On the back of Ryan Matterson's defection to the Eels, the Tigers have managed to land the major coup and are also expected to sign Dragons forward Luciano Leilua in the coming days.

It is understood the Tigers, who are also the frontrunners for Latrell Mitchell, want the Australian Schoolboys representative to join the club immediately to play for them in the NRL in 2020.

However, the Eels earmarked Utoikamanu, who grew up playing against the likes of Haas and David Fifita, to make his debut in 2020 and now have a decision to make whether to keep him at the club or let him link with the Tigers immediately.

NRL.com understands Utoikamanu, who is on a development contract with the Eels and is no guarantee of being bumped up into the NRL squad, stands to earn almost triple the original offer the Eels put to him midway through the year.

Stefano Utoikamanu in training with NSW under 20s in 2019.Stefano Utoikamanu in training with NSW under 20s in 2019.©Gregg Porteous/NRL Photos

The Eels raised their offer in recent weeks – and again on Thursday night in a desperate bid to hold on to him – however Utoikamanu had already reached a decision.

The strength of the Eels pack, with Junior Paulo and Reagan Campbell-Gillard starting up front, was also a factor – especially considering there are far fewer obstacles in front of him at the Tigers.

The Eels also have no shortage of depth in the front row, with NSW under 18s Origin front-rower Dave Hollis on their roster, as well as Sam Hughes, who was picked but missed the game due to suspension.

Tigers coach Michael Maguire is desperate to add some size and starch to his pack, and the signing of Utoikamanu, who represented the NSW under 20s last season, is sure to do that whenever he arrives at Concord.

Utoikamanu scored the match-winning try for NSW in a man-of-the-match performance in the under 18s Origin game last year, backing that up with 149 metres from 11 hit-ups for the Blues in the under 20s victory this year.

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      • Stefano is a year younger and was out for over half the year with a bad ankle injury.   But yeah Kaufusi has to be better because we haven't lost him lol.  You utter cretin, you have never been right about anything on here ever.  Just a cliff jumping Lemming.

  •  There is NO guarantee this kid is going to be the next big thing is there? He hasn't played 1 NRL game yet! He could be a total flop! At least you know with Matterson he's a proven player with skills and a premiership under his belt. Stone may not be a great player but he's good and solid as is Gower. It's obvious this guy is after the money and doesn't want to wait around but he may very well turn into a flop and let's face it when was the last good player to come out of Wests/Tigers? Or under the coaching of Maguire ? When was the last Eels player to switch to Wests/Tigers and turn into something great?

  • I think it was always going to be one of Stefano or Oregon to leave before long. Just hope we kept the right one. The fact that Oregon has played a bit of NRL already suggests we have. Disapponting, especially since he was just announced as a development player. When you look at our middle forwards, the road to regular NRL stints is much longer at Parra than Wests. He might get more NRL time at Wests, but will he be able to learn from experienced players like he would at Parra?

    Parra will always be a target for our juniors. The club needes to be on their guard and be confident they can keep the players who are more likely to be great players.

  • $270K per year is overs at the moment and if he does not progress.

    But the contract is for 2021-2023. If he is the next big thing then he could get $500K plus by the time he is 22-23 - eg Fafita, Haas. So if he thinks he as the upside of Haas then he is shooting himself in the foot.

    • This reply was deleted.
      • just meant that a 4 year contract (add in 2020) for a young player who thinks he can he can go from debuting to origin in a few years like Haas is not wise. If he backs himself then take a short term contract and go to market in a few years

  • There is no benifit in the NRL being a development club, quite the opposite actually. it costs a lot of money to develop players and the more you have the harder it is to keep all the good ones. Other clubs can pick and choose who they want and throw more money at them. It's easy sitting on the outside looking in to be critical of losing good young talent like in this case, it's undoubtedly disappointing to lose Utoikamanu but none of us know what is/has happened behind the scenes, maybe the coaching staff see other players with more potential either through talent or attitude, maybe the staff were complacent, who knows.

    There is no point having a lot of good young forwards without experienced forwards to show them the way, look how the broncos went this year, it all depends on where you are at as a club, are you ready to win now or are you building for the future?, the Tigers are obviously building for the future and i expect them to miss the finals for a couple more years, the Eels are ready to win now (within next couple of years) so are best served to have more experienced forwards with a couple of young guys providing some youthfull enthusiasm.

    I don't think it was a case of the Eels choosing players like Gower and Terepo over Utoikamanu as they were all going to be off contract at the end of next season and that's when an upgrade to Utoikamanu would have been the plan (fitting in with balancing the salary cap), he obviously got an offer with a better opportunity to play first grade earlier from the Tigers and took it, good luck to him, i hope for his sake his impatience doesn't come back to bite him playing in a team without a whole lot of experience in the forwards.

    Time will tell if the Tigers have got one up on us with this signing.

  • Did Faaing'a go West too?

    • This reply was deleted.
      • That's not good news either

        Twal Eisenhuth Utoikamanu Faainga 

        but

        we have Moses / Matterson

        • That's a win for us in my books.

  • Earlier this season, Mark O'Meley pointed out that Stefano still had to sort out the little man in his head (a serious attitude problem) and then there is Stefano's parents and their lust (pushing) for big money ASAP. With our "new" growing culture, and as much as I was keen on Stefano, I feel our club did the right thing in letting him go. There was more downside than upside. It takes a lot of guts, confidence and clarity to let go of a young, promising player, and his parents, just to annul the potential of such aggressive, undermining vibes breeding too close inside our club.

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