{"id":351344,"date":"2025-12-16T08:46:24","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:46:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/351344\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T08:46:24","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:46:24","slug":"eels-bid-for-koloamatangi-praised-by-club-legend-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/351344\/","title":{"rendered":"Eels bid for Koloamatangi praised by club legend – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parramatta Eels<\/a> legend Nathan Hindmarsh<\/a> may be famously opposed to clubs overpaying forwards, but he believes South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a> star Keaon Koloamatangi<\/a> is worth every cent of the reported $1 million-per-season offers currently on the table.<\/p>\n

The Rabbitohs enforcer is one of the most sought-after players on the open market, with the Eels and St George Illawarra Dragons<\/a> both tabling lucrative long-term deals as they look to bolster their middle rotation for the future.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the Kayo NRL Podcast, Hindmarsh was asked whether Koloamatangi justified the massive money being floated for his services,\u00a0 and the former international had no hesitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would pay this bloke on his current form,\u201d Hindmarsh said.<\/p>\n

Koloamatangi’s value has risen significantly since his transition from edge back-rower into the middle under Wayne Bennett<\/a> at South Sydney.<\/p>\n

\"SouthSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MAY 06: Keaon\u00a0Koloamatangi of the Rabbitohs speaks to the media after a South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL training session at USANA Rabbitohs Centre on May 06, 2025 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Darrian Traynor\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old has developed into one of the competition’s most damaging and reliable middle forwards, earning Test selection and becoming a central figure in the Rabbitohs’ pack.<\/p>\n

Hindmarsh praised the positional switch, highlighting improvements in Koloamatangi’s fitness, work rate and overall influence.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeaon now that he’s moved from the edge to the middle, which I think was a great move from Wayne Bennett<\/a>, his work rate’s improved, his fitness has improved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s in the top five middle players at the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reports suggest Parramatta have put forward a four-year deal worth approximately $4 million, while the Dragons are offering a longer five-year contract worth $5 million as they aggressively pursue the Kangaroos forward.<\/p>\n

\"NRLMELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 09: Jason Ryles, head coach of the Eels looks on before the round one NRL match between the Melbourne Storm and the Parramatta Eels at AAMI Park on March 09, 2025, in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

While Hindmarsh questioned some of the theatrics around recruitment, including the Dragons’ much-publicised helicopter pitch, he acknowledged the reality of supply and demand in the modern NRL<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the thing, supply and demand,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a club is after someone and they need that position to be filled, which I think the Eels do, then he’s worth the money.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eels are in the market for a long-term middle leader, with Junior Paulo<\/a> approaching the latter stages of his career and the club seeking a younger enforcer to anchor their pack moving forward.<\/p>\n

Hindmarsh believes Koloamatangi fits that brief perfectly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parramatta Eels legend Nathan Hindmarsh may be famously opposed to clubs overpaying forwards, but he believes South Sydney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-351344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351344","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=351344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}