As the 2026 NRL season fast approaches, SEN\u2019s Michael Carayannis and Chad Townsend have cast their eye on the free agents who could find new homes in 2027.<\/p>\n
Players entering the 2026 season on the final year of their deal are eligible to negotiate with rivals clubs and Carayannis and Townsend have named their top five free agents heading into the 2026 season.<\/p>\n
Michael Carayannis<\/p>\n
Jaxon Purdue (North Queensland Cowboys)<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s a bit of a smokey,\u201d Carayannis said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.<\/p>\n
Jayden Su\u2019A (St George Illawarra Dragons)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got an option his way to remain.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he played in a top four side over the last couple of years, I think he\u2019d be talked about as one of the elite backrowers in our game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jahream Bula (Wests Tigers)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has a clause as well in his contract.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think he\u2019s an outstanding talent and has the ability to be one of the elite fullbacks in the competition.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s good with the footy but if the ball doesn\u2019t come to him, he can sometimes get lost.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fundamentals however are there and he has the opportunity to be a long-term fullback in our game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toluta\u2019u Koula (Manly Sea Eagles)<\/p>\n
\u201c17 tries in 22 games in a disappointing Manly side.<\/p>\n
\u201cHas an option his way but if I was Perth, I\u2019d be throwing everything I can to get him to play fullback.<\/p>\n
\u201cSilky skills and speed to burn. We are just scratching the surface with his talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui (Gold Coast Titans)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s the number one for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chad Townsend<\/p>\n
Jaxon Purdue (North Queensland Cowboys)<\/p>\n
\u201cTodd Payten has reported that he\u2019s doing 80% of his pre-season work in his halves,\u201d Townsend said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s not the finished product. He had that stint last season in the halves and it was probably when the Cowboys had the worst part of the year.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was moved back to the centres so the jury is still out on whether he\u2019s a halfback or a centre.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a long-term player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Selwyn Cobbo (The Dolphins)<\/p>\n
\u201cSigned the one-year deal with the Dolphins after a disappointing individual season in 2025 at the Broncos.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how good he can be on his day. He looks fit at the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cBig year for him being off contract.\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray Taulagi (North Queensland Cowboys)<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s an international winger and he\u2019s played for Queensland.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was unable to get a deal done with the Cowboys. Reports are that they aren\u2019t on the same page and I don\u2019t know whether that\u2019s money or length.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looks like he\u2019ll have a look around and see what else is out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roger Tuivasa-Sheck (The Warriors)<\/p>\n
\u201cOne from across the ditch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were talks about him joining R360. I think it\u2019s an interesting year for RTS.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe still provides the goods and can do it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tino Fa\u2019asuamaleaui (Gold Coast Titans)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe big fish. We aren\u2019t sure what his motivation is right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis brother has signed with Perth but does he want to chase a Premiership.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know wherever he goes, he\u2019s going to be paid.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the 2026 NRL season fast approaches, SEN\u2019s Michael Carayannis and Chad Townsend have cast their eye on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-409323","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\/409323","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=409323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}