NRL news: Wests Tigers offer Penrith Panthers player swap to sign Apisai Koroisau for 2022 season
Under pressure for immediate success, Wests Tigers have made a sensational attempt to convince Penrith to release Api Koroisau to them in time for the 2022 season.
Dean Ritchie
4 min read
December 8, 2021 - 5:17PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
8 comments
Wests Tigers have reacted to their need for a fast start to the 2022 NRL season by trying to lure incoming hooker
Apisai Koroisau to Concord a year early.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal Wests approached premiers Penrith’s high-performance manager Matt Cameron to offer up either Jake Simpkin or Jacob Liddle – both emerging young hookers — in exchange for Koroisau.
Penrith took less than a minute to reject the daring proposal for the immediate player swap as they begin their chase for back-to-back grand final victories.
While Koroisau is
still to be vaccinated, the Panthers recruitment committee – including Cameron, director Greg Alexander, head coach Ivan Cleary, assistants Cameron Ciraldo and Peter Wallace, CEO Brian Fletcher and chairman Dave O’Neill – discussed the offer but quickly declined it.
Panthers officials confirmed the move on Wednesday.
“Api’s not going anywhere in 2022,” said one source close to Penrith. “It didn’t really matter what Wests Tigers offered up. The decision was made quickly.”
Koroisau has signed with Wests Tigers from 2023 but the Concord club did try their luck by asking whether the NSW hooker would shift a year earlier.
After losing Matt Burton, Brent Naden, Tevita Pangai Jr, Kurt Capewell, Paul Momirovski and Tyrone May for 2022, the Panthers committee took just 60 seconds to knock back the Koroisau request.
Koroisau hasn’t agitated for a premature release.
While Simpkin or Liddle were offered, there is a suggestion Tigers forward and Panthers junior Shawn Blore was also mentioned.
In the club’s statement last Friday announcing Koroisau’s signing, Wests stressed “the 29-year-old Koroisau is contracted with the Penrith Panthers for the 2022 campaign”.
“Api’s the best in the business after winning the grand final with the Panthers. He’s a great signing for us and an indicator of where this club is heading,” Wests Tigers captain James Tamou said.
While delighted to have secured Koroisau for 2023, Wests officials are under pressure for immediate success and desperately need a strong start next season. Cameron refuses to return calls.
Wests Tigers had attempted to poach hooker Josh Hodgson from Canberra for next year, the move ultimately failing over a financial stalemate between the two clubs.
It does appear Liddle, who played a career-high 20 games in 2021, is on the outer at Concord.
Koroisau, 29, remains unvaccinated and has been told by club officials about the ramifications if he continues his anti-jab stance.
The star dummy half would miss four matches in Queensland and Victoria next season by refusing to be inoculated. He would be fined an undisclosed sum for each game missed, possibly a total of around $80,000.