A shock new contender has emerged for the services of David Fifita, with St George Illawarra poised to strike after the November 1st deadline.
The Dragons have joined the race for the superstar forward, while they continue to wait on the future of Ben Hunt, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Fifita became the highest-paid forward in the league when he signed a three-year deal in the middle of the 2020 season.
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But although he’s shown flashes of brilliance in his time on the Gold Coast, the team has struggled – limping into the finals with a 10-14 record last season, and almost collecting the wooden spoon in 2022.
Still only 22-years-old, he’s got plenty of footy ahead of him – but despite his talent, already looms as a cautionary tale about splashing big cash on edge forwards rather than middles or spine players.
The Dragons’ previous multi-million dollar raid into a Queensland club resulted in them snaring Ben Hunt from the Broncos in 2018, and although the halfback has continued to play at a high level, other parts of their team – most notably the forward pack – haven’t managed to match the No.7’s output.
The Dragons are choc-full of veterans in their pack right now, with a fair chunk of their forwards for this season just gone already the other side of 30; namely Aaron Woods, Andrew McCullough, George Burgess, Jack De Belin, Tariq Sims, and Josh McGuire.
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With several of them will be moving on next season, the next couple of seasons gives Saints a great opportunity to inject some much-needed youth into their forward rotation, and Fifita would be just about the highest prize they could come away with in that regard.
The unique aspect working in the Dragons’ favour is that Fifita’s partner, Shaylee Bent, is already plying her trade for the club’s NRLW team.
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