2022 Squad, Signings and Rumours Thread

[5 Year Contract]

Can assure you it isn’t all theatrics but I hope you’re right in that we don’t lose him

Plan B will be Mahoney id say, and he’ll also be the Dolphins plan B. Ayoub will be intentionally waiting for Smith to make his decision so that Mahoney takes the spotlight, creates more competition and pushes his price up

I meant more along the lines of he loves playing for the titans, has family playing/working for the club. We are offering him a generous deal so surely his manager is just trying to get a stupid offer from the dolphins. This whole “playing for Bennett” thing seems overblown. Money talks these days but agreed I hope his announcement isn’t too far off and it gets put to bed.

Eels must be in a world of cap hurt if they let Papali’i go to the tigers for 600k a season.

[JunctionBlock]

Tino gave a bit of an snippet carpark interview with channel 7 yesterday. They used the part where he talks about Bennett being the best coach in the world.

It'd be nice to get an answer either way now.

[Titans83]

I heard on a podcast that Brandon smiths family live on the Gold Coast and they are encouraging him to sign with us.
Tino has come out and said that he will try to encourage Brandon to sign with us and he has been doing that the last 6 months. I’m sure we will keep tino and hopefully smith will sign as well.

[5 Year Contract]

I heard on a podcast that Brandon smiths family live on the Gold Coast and they are encouraging him to sign with us.
Tino has come out and said that he will try to encourage Brandon to sign with us and he has been doing that the last 6 months. I’m sure we will keep tino and hopefully smith will sign as well.

If we could secure both Tino and smith then hats off to recruitment. Literally locked down every key player we have and got us the missing piece we need but again its all IFs right now until we hear anything official

[gotitans101_]

I'll be pretty pissed if Tino left tbh. Not just because of the way he's always talking up how he wants to stay here but also because I think he's going to be a huge talent in a few years that I'd hate to have playing against us.

[indoallstars]

I'm 100% with JB, keeping Tino is a nice to have but not a must have, we don't want to screw up our salary cap for the future on another forward. If we lose him let's at least make The Dolphins pay for it, so we have more wriggle room for the next signing and to manage our salary cap going forward. The pride and future of the Titans is AJ, Sexton, Mo and Jayden Campbell they are our nucleus and all the money we spend now will have ramifications down the track to keeping those 4 players playing together.

Tino is young, he plays his heart out but he still has defensive lapsed, he isn't a playmaking lock, he doesn't have a linebreak in him, we should NOT throw the kitchen sink at him. Look how cheap we got Fermor, Lisone and McIntyre, we could literally have all 3 of them for the price Tino is expecting.

[Titanic]

Agree Indo and I’ll add that with a half decent spine we wouldn’t have to rely on Fifita to score tries.

[Whats Doing]

Well Tino's manager saying a positive thing about the Titans which is a good sign

Titans and Maroons star Tino Fa’asuamaleaui proving excellent role model both on and off the field[/SIZE]

He has wheeled, dealed for the likes of Josh McGuire and Moses Mbye but manager Simon Mammino says there is no one like Tino Fa’asuamaleaui.

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui’s manager, Simon Mammino, has worked as an NRL player agent for almost 20 years.

He has wheeled, dealed and talked turkey for a generation of NRL stars, including former Queensland Origin duo Josh McGuire and Moses Mbye and current Maroons prop Frank Molo.

But Mammino rates Titans young gun Fa’asuamaleaui as the finest ambassador he has seen in his time in rugby league.


As the Titans and NRL expansion newcomers the Dolphins wage a multimillion-dollar tussle for the signature of the off-contract 21-year-old, Mammino outlined why Fa’asuamaleaui will be the face of Queensland rugby league for the next decade.

“Tino is the best rugby league player I have ever seen off the field,” Mammino says.

“If the NRL wants a role model for the next generation of fans, they should look no further than Tino.

“So many NRL players get into off-field dramas but I am prepared to bet that you will never read a story about Tino being involved in a scandal.

“He is not a spoiled brat.

“What a lot of people don’t see, that I’ve known for some time, is the leadership qualities in Tino.

“The best leaders are born leaders and I could see Tino was a genuine leader with his personality, his moral and ethical standards and most of all his respect for other people.

“I believe he can be a captain of not only the Titans, but the Queensland Origin team.

“He is a shining light for NRL players.”

When the Titans unveiled their 24-page strategic road map last month, there is little doubt Fa’asuamaleaui was considered a key plank in their ambitious plan to win two NRL premierships by 2030.

There is a presence about the Samoan gentle giant that extends beyond his formidable physical gifts at 197cm and 113kg.

When Russell Crowe first lured Sam Burgess to the Rabbitohs in 2010, he dubbed the British Test enforcer the “sparkly-eyed man” who could take the Pride of the League to the promised land.

Burgess, broken cheekbone and all, delivered, his desire and sheer will-to-win propelling Souths to the 2014 premiership.

In Fa’asuamaleaui, the Titans believe they have the Burgess-like centrepiece of a maiden title charge. It is why Titans culture boss Mal Meninga, just one of the code’s 13 NRL Immortals, embarked on a 500km-round road trip to Gympie, a fortnight before Christmas two years ago, to sign the monstrous kid from Widgee to a $2.1 million contract.

It is why Dolphins super coach Wayne Bennett, the man who handed Fa’asuamaleaui his Queensland Origin debut last November, is quietly operating in the shadows, the wily old fox formulating a big-money bid to lure Tino closer to home.

In the next fortnight, Fa’asuamaleaui will make a definitive call. A Dolphins defection would be a crippling blow for the Titans. But the Gold Coast remain confident they will get the deal done, mindful of Tino’s own words when he first arrived on the Glitter Strip

At 20, he quit Melbourne, the most dominant NRL club of the past two decades, and with whom he had won a premiership in 2020, to join a struggling Titans outfit strapped for resources and plagued by the lowest membership supporter base in the league.

His mantra? “I love being the underdog.”

“We love how much Tino has bought into the club,” says Titans coach Justin Holbrook.

“He’s only had one year here but he has really bought into not just his own ability, but how much he wants our whole team to improve.

“He has become really invested in such a short time. That’s what I love about him.

“We don’t have a rich history as a club. We have to create our own and he is a big part of that.

“He has got time for those types of things.”

Importantly, Fa’asuamaleaui has time for the people that underpin the game

When the full-time siren sounds at Titans games, Holbrook often has to delay his post-match address to his Gold Coast squad because he is waiting for one more player to arrive in the sheds.

The minutes tick and tick as Fa’asuamaleaui does laps of Cbus Super Stadium, seemingly thanking every Titans fan at the venue for forking out their hard-earned cash to watch the side.

Sometimes it drives Holbrook bonkers, but he ultimately appreciates the bigger picture.

“That’s the commitment to the club that Tino has,” Holbrook says.

“He has got so much time for everyone to make sure the whole club is doing well. Those are the types of people we need.

“His training and work ethic is through the roof, then he backs it up by having a lot of time for people after training and the public after games.

“He is a very grounded person, too, who has terrific attributes, which is really important for our club.

“Tino will only be 22 next year but he is such a natural leader with his actions

“The way he goes about his life is excellent.”

Every NRL club has a fleet of cars they give to players as part of marquee-player allowances that are approved by the code’s salary-cap auditor.

When Fa’asuamaleaui received his first set of wheels from the Titans, he personally phoned club co-owner, car tycoon Rebecca Frizelle, to thank her for the fringe benefit.

While there are countless tales of NRL players trashing club-owned vehicles, Frizelle is blown away when Fa’asuamaleaui returns his car for servicing.

It is spotless ... every time.

“There is not a bad bone in his body,” Mammino says.

“What makes Tino a good sportsman is his work ethic, but off the field, it’s his honesty, his humility, his upbringing and his beliefs that set him apart.

“Here’s an example. Just two weeks ago, Tino was on social media and on his Facebook feed was a post about a fundraiser at his junior club, the Gympie Devils.

“They were raising funds for one of the junior league coaches who has cancer.

“Tino turned up unannounced. He drove to Gympie from the Gold Coast and spent five hours kicking footies with the kids and gave away some signed Titans jerseys for raffles.

“He sat there and spoke to the cancer patient.

“That sums him up. Tino treats others how he would like to be treated himself and that’s his ethos when he wakes up each day.”

Such was Tino’s talent, the late, great Queensland icon Arthur Beetson tried to sign Fa’asuamaleaui to the Roosters as an 11-year-old.

Big Artie had a connection with the family. In 1995, Beetson, a Roosters scout, had lured Tino’s father Feleti to the Bondi glamour club after spotting him playing for Samoa at a rugby sevens tournament.

Fa’asuamaleaui’s mum rejected a move to Sydney because Tino was too young, but within two years, Broncos scouts swooped, kickstarting his journey to the big league.

It was another icon with ties to the Roosters, Kiwi dual international Sonny Bill Williams, who shaped Fa’asuamaleaui’s footballing DNA. Every run, every collision, every defensive contest is an opportunity for Fa’asuamaleaui to set a performance benchmark.

“Growing up, I always played with underdog teams. I would love to show that no matter who you play for, you can impress.

“I like coming off the field knowing I have given it everything I’ve got, that I have competed 100 per cent to the last breath and done everything I could to beat my opponent.”

[Titanic]

Great article only missing the thanks but no thanks to Bennett.

[Titslover]

Pete Badel tweeted the link to this article with the caption. “Fa’asuamaleaui is set to knock back the Dolphins to sign a $3.3 million extension with the Titans.”

[willhelm]

I hope that’s over 4 years not 3

[Hail Sezer]

I hope that’s over 4 years not 3

Definitely will be over 4 years

Some encouraging things in that article but I'll remain cautious until it is made offical

[willhelm]

Definitely will be over 4 years

Some encouraging things in that article but I'll remain cautious until it is made offical

If it’s 3.3 over 4 (825k/year) then it’s a good deal.

[DIEHARD]

Pete Badel tweeted the link to this article with the caption. “Fa’asuamaleaui is set to knock back the Dolphins to sign a $3.3 million extension with the Titans.”

Not only would I be so very relieved but it'd pump up the Titans tyres too.

[Whats Doing]

If it’s 3.3 over 4 (825k/year) then it’s a good deal.

I understand that the deal is to increase his current contract next year to $800k and for 2023 as well and rising to $850k for 2024 and 2025