{"id":664337,"date":"2026-05-11T18:05:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/664337\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T18:05:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T18:05:23","slug":"nrl-news-2026-joseph-suaalii-png-chiefs-deny-complete-rubbish-contract-rumour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/664337\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Joseph Suaalii, PNG Chiefs deny ‘complete rubbish’ contract rumour"},"content":{"rendered":"

They might have already landed Jarome Luai<\/a>, but don’t expect to see cross-code superstar Joseph Suaalii<\/a> running out for the PNG Chiefs<\/a> in the 2028 season.<\/p>\n

Suaalii is on a lucrative contract with Rugby Australia until the end of next year, worth an estimated $1.6 million per season<\/a> and making him the country’s highest-paid star.<\/p>\n

However, rumours of a potential NRL comeback have continued to swirl away in the background, especially given Suaalii’s deal expires right after the 2027 World Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Slater coy on selections amid claims of mass changes<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Gout’s ‘grouchy grandma’ coach admits her one non-negotiable<\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: Bailey denies concerns as Aussie stars refuse to sign contracts<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/p>\n

Joseph Suaalii.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

But one place the 22-year-old won’t be landing is Port Moresby.<\/p>\n

Despite reports linking Suaalii to the NRL expansion franchise, Nine’s Danny Weidler has revealed both parties have denied there is any truth to it.<\/p>\n

“Report that Joseph Suaalii is in talks with PNG Chiefs is false. Have talked to Chiefs and management of Suaalii and they both said it’s complete rubbish,” he said via X.<\/p>\n

On top of his initial three-year deal to play for the NSW Waratahs and Wallabies, the talented outside back has a further two-year option in his favour.<\/p>\n

Suaalii has become one of the biggest names in Australian sport since debuting with the Roosters<\/a> as a teenager after being granted special exemption by NRL officials to play before his 18th birthday<\/a> – something that hasn’t occurred since. <\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He went on to score 29 tries in 66 games for the Tricolours and also played one State of Origin game for the Blues in 2024, but was sent off after seven minutes.<\/p>\n

Since making the transition to union two years ago, Suaalii has represented the Wallabies on 18 occasions and is expected to play a major role in next year’s World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They might have already landed Jarome Luai, but don’t expect to see cross-code superstar Joseph Suaalii running out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":664338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-664337","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\/664337","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=664337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/664337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/664338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=664337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=664337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=664337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}