{"id":139272,"date":"2021-10-04T21:07:38","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T21:07:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=139272"},"modified":"2021-10-05T11:59:23","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T11:59:23","slug":"rival-club-targets-parramatta-enforcer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=139272","title":{"rendered":"Rival club targets Parramatta enforcer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Warriors are leading the race to sign versatile Eels<\/a> forward Marata Niukore for 2023.<\/p>\n

With 11 players free to talk to rival clubs from November 1, Parra know they can't keep them all for 2023 – and Niukore is one who looks set to be sacrificed.<\/p>\n

The Eels want to keep Niukore – but have higher priorities like skipper Clint Gutherson<\/a>, NSW Origin prop Junior Paulo, Maroons hooker Reed Mahoney, improved forward Isaiah Papali'i and consistent back-rower Ryan Matterson.<\/p>\n

Niukore had a fine season in 2021, starting in the centres before stints at prop, second-row and on the interchange bench.<\/p>\n

Final roll of the dice for Leilua<\/h2>\n

Controversial centre Joey Leilua is moving to the square ring in a desperate bid to save his rugby league career.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old was sacked by the Tigers recently after an indifferent season and rival clubs are reluctant to sign him.<\/p>\n

There have been questions about his discipline and fitness in recent years, with no club willing to sign him despite his obvious ability.<\/p>\n

\"Joey<\/p>\n

So Leilua plans to fight on the upcoming Josh Aloiai – Paul Gallen under card – and those close to him say he has never trained so hard.<\/p>\n

"He rides the bike for 90 minutes and then does boxing training for two to three hours every day," a source close to Leilua told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

"He is only 29 and wants to prove he can still hold his own in league – if he gets fit and looks trim in the fight, it might be his way back in."<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Panthers star Brian To'o proposes to partner after winning NRL Grand Final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>NRL Grand Final player ratings<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Wayne Bennett speaks on coaching future following grand final loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Leilua is likely to fight either Titans hard man Jarrod Wallace or former Manly prop Darcy Lussick.<\/p>\n

There is no questioning Leilua's ability when fit and focussed – he twice was named Dally M centre of the year and has played in two NRL grand finals.<\/p>\n

Souths gun on the move<\/h2>\n

Souths are in danger of losing one of their best young forwards to Canberra.<\/p>\n

Brock Gardner – who was promoted to the Rabbitohs' top squad last summer before tragically tearing his achilles in training in January – is on the Raiders' radar.<\/p>\n

The 21-year-old has been working steadily on his rehab all year and will be good to go at the start of 2022 – and it's looking like he will be in lime green.<\/p>\n

Dragons chase boom rookie<\/strong><\/h2>\n

A promising back-rower from Melbourne is close to gaining a development contract with the Dragons for 2022.<\/p>\n

Shalom O'Ofou, aged 20, began his career with the Storm but has been in the Dragons system for the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

Big and fast, he played in the COVID\u2014shortened NSW Cup for the Dragons this year.<\/p>\n

But the youngster showed enough to impress the NRL coaching staff and is on the verge of a fulltime deal for next season.<\/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<\/strong><\/em> clicking here!<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Warriors are leading the race to sign versatile Eels forward Marata Niukore for 2023. With 11 players free to talk to rival clubs from […]<\/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\/139272"}],"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=139272"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139274,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139272\/revisions\/139274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=139272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=139272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=139272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}