{"id":353768,"date":"2025-12-17T11:24:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T11:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/353768\/"},"modified":"2025-12-17T11:24:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-17T11:24:23","slug":"rabbitohs-increase-offer-as-race-for-koloamatangi-intensifies-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/353768\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabbitohs increase offer as race for Koloamatangi intensifies &#8211; NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/south-sydney-rabbitohs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a> have reportedly increased their offer for prop <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/players\/keaon-koloamatangi\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Keaon Koloamatangi<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>While a three-year offer was previously on the table, News Corp are reporting that has now been raised to four years.<\/p>\n<p>The race for the forward has become one of the most hotly-contested since the November 1 deadline on the back of a 2025 season where he moved from the edge to the middle and wound up representing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/australia\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Australia<\/a> in the Ashes series against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/rugby-league\/international-teams\/england\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">England<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Rabbitohs are understandably desperate to retain the services of the 27-year-old long-term, but that is no guarantee with seven-figure contracts lodged in his direction by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/parramatta-eels\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Parramatta Eels<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/st-george-illawarra-dragons\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">St George Illawarra Dragons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Both clubs are desperate to add to their engine rooms, with the Eels being a prop short of where they&#8217;d like to be, and the Dragons needing an experienced figurehead to lead what will be a young forward pack heading into 2027 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>The Eels are believed to have also offered a four-year deal for the forward, which South Sydney have now matched, while the Dragons have offered five years.<\/p>\n<p>While both clubs won&#8217;t require Koloamatangi to move &#8211; with it understood he wants to remain in Sydney &#8211; the idea of continuing to play under <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/coaches\/wayne-bennett\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Wayne Bennett<\/a>, who has turned his form line from good to great in recent times, will be appealing to the powerhouse.<\/p>\n<p>It has also been reported that Bennett will re-sign with South Sydney beyond the end of his current deal, further sweetening the idea for Koloamatangi.<\/p>\n<p>The forward, who was one of the NRL&#8217;s best in the second half of 2025, has played his entire career to date with South Sydney, having made his debut in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>He now has 126 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> games under his belt, with the Tongan, New South Wales and Australian representative likely in the frame for more representative honours in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>While Koloamatangi has not put a timeline on his decision, it&#8217;s understood he could do so before the end of the year as he weighs up the three contracts on the table.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s unclear if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/perth-bears\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Perth Bears<\/a> ever made a move for the prop, but his desire to remain in Sydney will likely make any contact with the NRL&#8217;s newest expansion club unrealistic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The South Sydney Rabbitohs have reportedly increased their offer for prop Keaon Koloamatangi. While a three-year offer was&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":245945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-353768","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\/353768","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=353768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/353768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/245945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=353768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=353768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=353768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}