{"id":444671,"date":"2026-01-29T07:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/444671\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T07:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T07:42:11","slug":"tigers-put-upgrade-on-table-for-in-demand-forward-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/444671\/","title":{"rendered":"Tigers put upgrade on table for in-demand forward – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wests Tigers<\/a> have reportedly moved to retain Sione Fainu<\/a>, who is off-contract at the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

Originally out of the Manly Sea Eagles<\/a> system, Sione, alongside brothers Samuela and Latu, is now at the Tigers.<\/p>\n

Samuela had a breakout 2025 campaign as he became a second-rower, while Latu showed plenty in the halves, but could well be overlooked for Jarome Luai<\/a> and Adam Doueihi<\/a> to start this year.<\/p>\n

Sione, the oldest of the trio, once starred at junior State of Origin<\/a> level, but hasn’t quite recognised his potential yet, with the 24-year-old putting together his best NRL<\/a> season to date in 2025 as he capitalised on his promise.<\/p>\n

It was enough, reportedly, for the Tigers to put an offer on the table for Sione, with it believed to be for three-years, and valued at around $1.2 million – or $400,000 per season.<\/p>\n

If Fainu accepts the reported offer, it would lock him down at the Concord-based joint-venture until at least the end of 2029.<\/p>\n

Fainu, who was on a development deal in 2024, has risen quickly in the last 12 months, playing all 24 games in 2025, and it caught the eye of Perth Bears<\/a> mentor Mal Meninga<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The club’s inaugural coach was reportedly preparing a pitch and offer for Fainu to switch across the country, but will have his work cut out for him.<\/p>\n

Sione’s brothers are at the Tigers, and as has already been seen on more than one occasion, moving across the country is less than appealing for a number of players.<\/p>\n

It could go down as another blow for the Bears, who have recruited some excellent players early on, led by Liam Henry<\/a>, Josh Curran<\/a> and Toby Sexton<\/a>, but they still need plenty if they are going to be competitive in their opening season.<\/p>\n

It’s unclear when Sione will make a decision by, but if he recommits, it could make the Tigers’ job of retaining his two brothers – both off-contract at the end of 2027 – easier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Wests Tigers have reportedly moved to retain Sione Fainu, who is off-contract at the end of 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":444672,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-444671","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\/444671","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=444671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444671\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/444672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}