{"id":466736,"date":"2025-08-21T02:31:34","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T02:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466736"},"modified":"2025-08-21T23:17:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T23:17:37","slug":"pointless-tino-camp-denies-brandon-smiths-contract-whisper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=466736","title":{"rendered":"'Pointless': Tino camp denies Brandon Smith's contract 'whisper'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tino Fa'asuamaleaui<\/a>'s manager has denied a "little whisper" raised by Brandon Smith<\/a>, insisting he's had no contact with the Melbourne Storm<\/a>, nor any other club, regarding his superstar client's playing future.<\/p>\n

The agent of the Titans<\/a>, Maroons and Kangaroos middle forward, Simon Mammino, \ufeffwas also dismissive of a News Corp report which stated Fa'asuamaleaui was leaning toward committing to Australia for the Ashes this year before defecting to Samoa for next year's World Cup.<\/p>\n

Smith and Fa'asuamaleaui played in the Melbourne side that beat Penrith in the 2020 NRL<\/a> grand final.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Gould hits back at 'very unfair' Turbo calls<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

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And Smith, who's now at the Rabbitohs after a brief stint at the Roosters, fed the rumour mill with a comment about Fa'asuamaleaui's playing future<\/a> on James Graham's The Bye Round<\/em> podcast this week.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I heard a little whisper … I heard something about Melbourne," Smith said, suggesting the Fa'asuamaleaui camp and the Storm were in talks about a possible reunion.<\/p>\n

"Nelson's [Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona] contract is coming up. That's all I'm saying. And he is on big money."<\/p>\n

\"Tino<\/p>\n

Fa'asuamaleaui is contracted with the Titans until the end of 2033 but a string of get-out clauses are embedded in the deal.<\/p>\n

One clause means the big-money Gold Coast captain\ufeff is set to become a free agent on November 1, meaning the Fa'asuamaleaui camp will then be allowed to negotiate with rivals about potentially changing clubs for 2027.<\/p>\n

Adding to the intrigue is the looming NRL entry of the Perth Bears, who in 2027 will become the league's 18th franchise.<\/p>\n

But \ufeffFa'asuamaleaui's manager denied the "whisper" raised by Smith when contacted by Wide World of Sports on Thursday.<\/p>\n

"I'm not sure where he got it from but we've had no contact from the Melbourne Storm in any shape or form," Mammino told WWOS.<\/p>\n

"To the best of my knowledge, there's no interest from the Melbourne Storm.<\/p>\n

"And we're quite a while away from November 1. We've got to get through the season, take a deep breath, look at the international calendar and see what's going on in that space. We don't have to make a decision on that [Fa'asuamaleaui's NRL contract] until the middle of next year.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Gus<\/p>\n

"To be talking about this now is premature, and even trying to discuss it with clubs when they can't put offers in is pointless.<\/p>\n

"Tino just wants to focus on getting through the season with the Titans, try and chalk up a win, and then deal with all this stuff they're talking about at a later date.<\/p>\n

"As for the Melbourne Storm or any other club, we haven't spoken to anyone.<\/p>\n

"And no third party has contacted me on behalf of any club."<\/p>\n

Asked how\ufeff Fa'asuamaleaui was finding his time at the Titans, Mammino said: "He likes it there,\ufeff he's been there a while and he's invested in it."<\/p>\n

It was announced on Wednesday that Fa'asuamaleaui's younger brother, 23-year-old middle forward Iszac, would join the France-based Catalans Dragons in the Super League on a two-year deal after this season.<\/p>\n

"He [Tino] is happy for him. He thinks it's\ufeff a good opportunity where he can grow as a player," Mammino said.<\/p>\n

\"Tino<\/p>\n

"He'll go over to the Super League and hopefully start there and play good minutes and develop his game. He's at a point in his career where he needs to be playing some more minutes, and he'll get that opportunity in Catalans in a decent competition. It's about opportunity, development and growth; that was the basis of his decision."<\/p>\n

Mammino also said Tino hadn't yet made a decision on his international playing future, despite a News Corp report claiming he was leaning toward playing for Australia in the three-Test series against England in October and November before switching to represent Samoa at next year's World Cup.\ufeff<\/p>\n

Payne Haas confirmed\ufeff last week<\/a> that he would represent Samoa, not Australia, going forward.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tino Fa'asuamaleaui's manager has denied a "little whisper" raised by Brandon Smith, insisting he's had no contact with the Melbourne Storm, nor any other club, […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":466738,"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\/466736"}],"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=466736"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466742,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466736\/revisions\/466742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/466738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=466736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=466736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=466736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}