{"id":707089,"date":"2026-05-31T22:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T22:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/707089\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T22:34:13","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T22:34:13","slug":"nrl-2026-luciano-leilua-opens-up-on-nearly-giving-up-on-rugby-league-eyeing-new-contract-with-dragons-samoa-international-return-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/707089\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Luciano Leilua opens up on nearly giving up on rugby league, eyeing new contract with Dragons, Samoa international return, nrl news"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Six months ago, Luciano Leilua came extremely close to giving up rugby league after falling out of love with the sport.<\/p>\n<p>Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports |<a href=\"https:\/\/kayosports.com.au\/en-AU\/welcome\/nrl?pg=default&amp;extcamp=fsaeditoriallinkleague-edt-fsp-lnk-awr-grc-nrl-kyo&amp;channel=fsa&amp;campaign=fsacontra&amp;voucher=\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Struggling with form and failing to find his confidence, the St George Illawarra Dragons forward questioned whether he wanted to hang up the boots after a decade in the NRL.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"i-amphtml-fill-content i-amphtml-replaced-content\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/1779017096_680_poster-fallback.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Having battled inconsistent performance over the past few seasons, Leilua admitted he was no longer enjoying the sport and felt unable to meet the standards required to compete at his best.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just thought my form wasn\u2019t really good last year or the last couple of years,\u201d Leilua said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI sort of fell out of love with the game and wasn\u2019t really on par with everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The back-rower was close to leaving the sport.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n<p>Carrying extra weight and having difficulty keeping up with the pace of the modern game, he knew something had to change.<\/p>\n<p>Not only did he shed more than 30kgs, but he felt rejuvenated and felt a new level of motivation during his off-season transformation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had too much weight to carry and it just wasn\u2019t it but I knuckled down in the off-season and really got myself into shape and all those days are paying off, I feel good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A former five-time Samoan international, the former Cowboys and Tigers forward is now eying a potential representative return as he aims to push his way back into higher honours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor sure, that\u2019d be good. Hopefully, I do but it\u2019ll be a good squad. Even if I don\u2019t make it, I\u2019ll be watching for sure,\u201d Leilua added.<\/p>\n<p>He remains off-contract at the end of 2026.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Deciding to play on, the back-rower is now also focused on securing a new deal with the Dragons as he runs off-contract at the end of 2026 and has yet to lock in his future beyond this season.<\/p>\n<p>Although contract negotiations between Leilua and the Dragons are yet to begin, the club looms as his preferred destination as he looks to continue his career revival.<\/p>\n<p>However, they could face stiff competition to retain his services with multiple clubs understood to be monitoring his situation as he remains free to speak with rivals for 2027 and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor sure, I would love to (remain at the Dragons). I just let my manager handle all that but all I can do is just go out there and play good footy,\u201d Leilua said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not too sure at the moment. I haven\u2019t really spoken to anyone or the club yet and I\u2019m just trying to play good footy for the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six months ago, Luciano Leilua came extremely close to giving up rugby league after falling out of love&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":707090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-707089","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\/707089","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=707089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/707090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}