Inside story: 80 minute finals performance, secret meeting sparked Jonah Pezet’s bombshell move
Jonah Pezet has orchestrated one of the most complex contract deals in NRL history on the back of one finals performance and a secret meeting with Brisbane a week after their grand final win over Melbourne.
Brent Read and
Travis Meyn
3 min read
October 21, 2025 - 5:50PM
Reigning NRL premiers Brisbane have stepped up their plans for life without Adam Reynolds after securing Melbourne gun Jonah Pezet — but only after he spends the next 12 months playing in the halves at Parramatta.
Pezet is on the verge of completing a remarkable career change, barely five weeks after he masterminded the Storm’s win over the Bulldogs in the opening week of the finals.
The classy half had interest from North Queensland, Canberra and the Gold Coast but has settled on a short-term move to Parramatta, where he will reunite with coach Jason Ryles and play alongside Mitchell Moses in 2026.
Pezet will then move to Brisbane at the end of next season after agreeing to terms on a long-term contract to compete for the Broncos’ No.7 jersey, which is expected to become vacant when Reynolds, 35, slips into retirement.
The signing of Pezet shapes as a huge boost for the Broncos and their coach, Michel Maguire, as they continue to celebrate the end of their 19-year NRL premiership drought.
Melbourne playmaker Jonah Pezet is on the move — and his career plan is wild. He’s leaving the Storm after their premiership win, heading to Parramatta on a one-year deal, then making a mega move to Brisbane to become Adam Reynolds’ long-term replacement. A huge win for Michael Maguire’s Broncos, and another hit for Craig Bellamy’s Storm.
Pezet will join a spine that already has Reece Walsh and Ezra Mam tied to long-term deals. The Broncos’ interest in Pezet was kept under wraps until last week when this masthead revealed that some of their rivals were concerned that the premiers would weigh in with a bid to sign the 22-year-old.
That became reality when Pezet flew to Brisbane last week for a secret meeting with the Broncos, and he is now expected to form a potent long-term combination with Mam, albeit after a short 12-month sojourn at Parramatta.
Pezet’s signature also shapes as a boost for Parramatta as they land a ready-made foil for Moses and allow their batch of emerging playmakers more time to develop.
The Eels have some of the best young halves in the game but the club had no desire to throw them to the wolves. Pezet allows them to bring those promising playmakers along slowly, which may prove more beneficial for their long-term development.
Jonah Pezet.
Parramatta had initially talked about taking Pezet on a one-year loan deal before sending him back to Melbourne. Rather than the Storm, he will now leave the Eels and pack his bags for the Broncos.
The news came as a blow to the Storm given Pezet’s final performance in a Melbourne jersey was one of his best.
The classy playmaker had patiently waited for his chance in Melbourne, where he was happy to learn his craft and train alongside some of the best players in the game.
That performance against Canterbury may have been the beginning of the end. It showed Pezet was ready for a regular spot in the NRL and it wasn’t going to come in Melbourne given the current circumstances, where Jahrome Hughes has an iron-clad grip on the No.7 jersey and Cameron Munster — currently in England with the Kangaroos — has two years remaining on his contract.
Pezet’s only hope would be if Munster was to move to fullback or become one of Perth’s inaugural signings.
That would have required more patience and Pezet wasn’t prepared to wait. Not any longer. He told the Storm in the week after the grand final that he was enacting a clause in his contract that allowed him to go to market if the club extended the contract of Hughes, which they did that in the lead-up to the finals.
The Cowboys, Raiders and Titans were among the clubs to flag an initial interest in Pezet but Parramatta proved the most attractive before Brisbane entered the equation and flexed their premiership muscle.
Their victims in the grand final were the Storm. The loss of Pezet rubs salt into the wounds given the Storm and coach Craig Bellamy did their best to convince him to stay.
However, Pezet ultimately decided his career would be best served elsewhere, a decision which will have ramifications not just for Melbourne, but also potentially the Perth Bears.
There was a school of thought that if Pezet stayed, the Storm would consider giving Cameron Munster permission to speak to the Bears ahead of their addition to the NRL in 2027.
However, any hope the Bears had of signing Munster for their inaugural season would appear to be gone given Pezet’s departure.
With Pezet’s future determined, the focus remains on the Storm as they wait to resolve the future of fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen.
