{"id":124762,"date":"2021-09-06T08:39:07","date_gmt":"2021-09-06T08:39:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=124762"},"modified":"2021-09-06T10:56:27","modified_gmt":"2021-09-06T10:56:27","slug":"leiluas-career-in-tatters-as-tigers-wield-axe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=124762","title":{"rendered":"Leilua's career in tatters as Tigers wield axe"},"content":{"rendered":"

Enigmatic centre Joey Leilua<\/a> is fearing his NRL<\/a> career is over after copping the boot from Wests Tigers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leilua is one of five departing Tigers players following a horrific 38-0 defeat to wooden-spooners the Bulldogs<\/a> to close another dismal campaign.<\/p>\n

The Tigers have opted against activating a contract option in their favour to give Leilua a third year, putting his NRL career in a grave position after 225 games with the Roosters<\/a>, Knights<\/a>, Raiders<\/a> and Tigers.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Michael Schumacher's close friend gives remarkable update on F1 legend<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The embattled club is also seeing off former Queensland Maroons<\/a> utility Moses Mbye<\/a>, who signed with the Dragons last month<\/a>, as well as half Billy Walters, who's set to play under his dad Kevin<\/a> at the Broncos<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The other two players leaving the Tigers are back-rower Michael Chee Kam, who's failed to receive a new deal, and retiring front-rower Russell Packer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leilua was named Dally M centre of the year in 2016, on the back of an electric season in which he struck a lethal right-edge combination with Canberra winger Jordan Rapana<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But the Raiders offloaded Leilua at the completion of the 2019 season and the bustling Samoan struggled to rediscover his brilliant form in Tigers colours.<\/p>\n

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The 29-year-old managed just 14 games with the Concord club in 2020, due partly to a brutal shot on Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards that dealt him a four-game suspension<\/a>, before adding only another seven appearances in 2021.<\/p>\n

\"Joey<\/p>\n

Rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns gave a dire assessment of Leilua's future<\/a> when Tigers coach Michael Maguire<\/a> dropped him after the second round of the season.<\/p>\n

"We spoke in the off-season about how he's a lost a heap of weight," Johns said on Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth<\/em> at the time.<\/p>\n

"I don't see that he's fit.<\/p>\n

"The talent's there, you can see how talented he is and we've seen it during his career, but at the moment he doesn't look interested."<\/p>\n

\"Joey<\/p>\n

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NSW Blues<\/a> coach Brad Fittler<\/a> was also unimpressed.<\/p>\n

"That fight, the desperation, the desire to stop tries, the desire to help teammates \u2013 just not there."<\/p>\n

Leilua has left behind his younger brother Luciano at the Tigers, who's contracted to the club until the end of 2022.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Enigmatic centre Joey Leilua is fearing his NRL career is over after copping the boot from Wests Tigers. Leilua is one of five departing Tigers […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124762"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=124762"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124762\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":124764,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124762\/revisions\/124764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=124762"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=124762"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=124762"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}