Wakeham and Smith are a very good NSW Cup halves pairing. Bula and Tupou will hopefully see plenty of first grade this year. Rumours are Kautoga is going Dogs next year which would be a loss.
Apparently the rumour is true re Kautoga, Vic.
The Wests Tigers are privately fuming over losing one of their brightest young stars to the Bulldogs.
Kitione Kautoga, who made his one and only NRL appearance for the Tigers against the Dragons in round 24 last year, is on his way to Belmore.
The Fijian forward, who scored three tries in NSW Cup in the opening round, was brought to the Tigers by former general manager Adam Hartigan. Hartigan is now at the Bulldogs working with Phil Gould.
The pair organised for Kautoga to meet with coach Cameron Ciraldo and his idol Viliame Kikau. It was enough to get him over the line.
The Tigers requested a $160,000 transfer fee from the Bulldogs to release him this year, but that doesn’t look like happening.