{"id":277283,"date":"2025-11-11T08:57:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T08:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277283\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T08:57:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T08:57:11","slug":"souths-forward-weighing-up-options-after-ashes-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277283\/","title":{"rendered":"Souths forward weighing up options after Ashes tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Melbourne are hopeful of luring Gold Coast skipper Tino Fa\u2019asuamaelaui back to the Victorian capital, but should they fail, Koloamatangi looms as an ideal fit, especially because of his ability to play in the middle and an edge. A left-field option would be the Broncos, especially if Payne Haas takes the big money on offer at rebel rugby competition R360.<\/p>\n<p>Parramatta, meanwhile, have prop Junior Paulo off contract and money in the cap for 2027. Coach Jason Ryles often points to Eels star Jack Williams as his prototype for a forward, with a big engine and good leg speed \u2013 two qualities Koloamatangi has in abundance.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Keaon Koloamatangi played all three Tests for Australia.\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/fd3a6492de64fae2e67f2ffb92803fe34cb3034270ea606ade8f4e6d11409b3f.jpeg\" height=\"390\" width=\"584\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Keaon Koloamatangi played all three Tests for Australia.Credit: NRL Images<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have to meet my manager on Tuesday and discuss a few things; it\u2019s early days,\u201d Koloamatangi said. \u201cBut I have two little ones and my fianc\u00e9e to look after, I have to think about my family \u2013 they\u2019re my No. 1 priority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are a lot of things that will come into consideration. Playing in this [Ashes] series, I\u2019m over the moon, and considering we didn\u2019t too well in clubland this year, it was good to go out [on a] winning [note].<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHanging out with players at the top of their game, and seeing how professional they are, I can\u2019t wait to go back as a leader to the Bunnies and hopefully chase that premiership.<\/p>\n<p>Loading<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of [younger] players might look up to me because I\u2019ve played for Australia now. I have to step up, be that older player; my voice will be heard more.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Koloamatangi started the year in the back row before being shifted to the middle by coach Wayne Bennett, a positional switch that proved a masterstroke. He was given the honour of captaining the PM\u2019s XIII team in Papua New Guinea before joining the Kangaroos.<\/p>\n<p>While Nathan Cleary, Isaah Yeo and several other Kangaroos stayed behind in the UK for a well-deserved holiday, Koloamatangi, Canterbury\u2019s Jacob Preston, Newcastle\u2019s Bradman Best, Canberra\u2019s Ethan Strange and North Queensland\u2019s Tom Dearden were among the players to catch the last flight back to Sydney.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne are hopeful of luring Gold Coast skipper Tino Fa\u2019asuamaelaui back to the Victorian capital, but should they&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-277283","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nrl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-national-rugby-league","11":"tag-nationalrugbyleague","12":"tag-nrl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}