{"id":592233,"date":"2026-04-07T23:31:34","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:31:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592233\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T23:31:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T23:31:34","slug":"in-demand-de-lutiis-rejects-ireland-commits-future-to-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592233\/","title":{"rendered":"In-demand De Lutiis rejects Ireland, commits future to Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tipping the scales at 129kg and able to bench press more than 200kg, Massimo De Lutiis<\/a> feels as if a weight’s been lifted from his shoulders after he rejected a big-money Irish deal to remain at the Queensland Reds.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old tighthead prop, eligible for Ireland, was aggressively pursued by Ulster and the national body and weighed up the move for two weeks.<\/p>\n

But on Wednesday a three-year contract extension with the Reds and Rugby Australia was confirmed.<\/p>\n

“I had a lot to weigh up … it was a bit stressful,” De Lutiis said.<\/p>\n

“Family, knowing Australia and what it is like here … they were two big deciding factors.<\/p>\n

“‘Did I want to be potentially playing in front of family and friends at a home World Cup next year?’<\/p>\n

“I asked myself that question as well. Even if I don’t, it would be amazing to be around a tournament like that with the huge support that’s out there.”<\/p>\n

Injuries have kept The Southport School product to just nine Super Rugby Pacific matches since late 2023 for the Reds.<\/p>\n

But in a sign of his status he earnt call-ups to Wallabies camps before even debuting and was named as unavailable due to injury on every Wallabies team sheet last season.<\/p>\n

“I remember getting the first (Wallabies camp) invitation by email and thinking it must be a mistake,” he said.<\/p>\n

Massimo De Lutiis of the Reds is tackled\u00a0Mark Nolan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

“I wondered how I’d fit in with all the big dogs but I got nothing but amazing support and learnt so much.”<\/p>\n

The signing follows that of fellow Southport School graduate, Reds and Test prop Zane Nonggorr, still just 25, on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“I definitely feel like a weight has been lifted with this decision,” De Lutiis said.<\/p>\n

“I talked to some older boys at the Reds like Lukhan (Salakaia-Loto) and Jeffery (Toomaga-Allen), who have gone over to Europe to play.<\/p>\n

“They gave me a good insight into what it would be like and what I would be leaving.”<\/p>\n

De Lutiis’s lightbulb moment came in year 10, watching Nonggorr lift the GPS trophy in 2019.<\/p>\n

He moved his bed into his basement, where he built a gym, and for eight weeks did workouts twice a day, emerging only to run on the beach twice a week.<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t anything special; didn’t have an athletic bone in my body,” the told AAP last year, when also declaring it remained a “dream” to be a Wallaby and not exploit his Irish heritage.<\/p>\n

“But watching Zane … I was like, ‘I want to be that’.<\/p>\n

“So I said to myself, ‘My time’s now’.”<\/p>\n

Nearing a return from wrist fractures and a hamstring injury, De Lutiis looms as a handy inclusion for Reds coach Les Kiss at the back end of this season and a key plank once he takes over as Wallabies coach in August.<\/p>\n

“‘Mass’ has impressed me since before my first game as Reds coach that day,” Kiss said.<\/p>\n

“Despite challenges with injury, he’s a committed professional and he’s only going to get better and better with his ambitions for Queensland and Australian rugby.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tipping the scales at 129kg and able to bench press more than 200kg, Massimo De Lutiis feels as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-592233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592233","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=592233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}