{"id":168727,"date":"2021-12-03T08:32:14","date_gmt":"2021-12-03T09:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=168727"},"modified":"2021-12-04T06:00:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-04T06:00:45","slug":"storms-bold-swap-attempt-with-tigers-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=168727","title":{"rendered":"Storm's bold swap attempt with Tigers revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wests Tigers<\/a> have shot down a daring bid from the Melbourne Storm<\/a> to trade under-fire hooker Brandon Smith<\/a> with highly touted forward Stefano Utoikamanu for next season, The Sydney Morning Herald reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It's another sign of just how livid the Storm are with Smith over the recent appearance of the Roosters-bound superstar on the YKTR podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Storm recruitment manager Paul Bunn approached the Tigers this week, offering Smith on a one-year deal.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Shane Warne says Nathan Lyon could face Test axe<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That prompted a discussion between new Tigers director of football Tim Sheens and Storm coach Craig Bellamy<\/a>, but the negotiations ended abruptly when Melbourne revealed they wanted Utoikamanu in return.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

It was fresh in the Tigers' minds that Smith had made it clear to the joint-venture club several weeks ago that he didn't want to speak, indicating that he wanted to join a top-four team.<\/p>\n

In an indication of the talent Utoikamanu possesses, the 21-year-old was selected in the Blues' State of Origin squad for the third game of the 2021 series<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Tigers announced on Friday that they had locked up premiership-winning Panthers hooker Apisai Koroisau on a two-year deal from 2023<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie teen named NBA Rookie of the Month<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Felise Kaufusi<\/a> (Dolphins), Reed Mahoney<\/a> (Bulldogs) and Isaiah Papali'i<\/a> (Tigers) are among the high-prolife players to have finalised deals with rival clubs during the current transfer window, which opened on November 1.<\/p>\n

The deal between Smith and the Roosters<\/a> is yet to be made official, but the New Zealand Test rake all but revealed he was set to sign with the Tricolours in his appearance on the podcast.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Sharks discard looks to revive NRL career via stint in England<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Smith said on the podcast that, on a tour of the Roosters during this off-season, he had looked at a Roosters jumper and thought, "I want to win a premiership in that jersey"<\/a>.<\/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":"

Wests Tigers have shot down a daring bid from the Melbourne Storm to trade under-fire hooker Brandon Smith with highly touted forward Stefano Utoikamanu for […]<\/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\/168727"}],"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=168727"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":168731,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168727\/revisions\/168731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=168727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=168727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=168727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}