{"id":779391,"date":"2026-07-04T22:28:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T22:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779391\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T22:28:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T22:28:13","slug":"nrl-news-2026-the-mole-parramatta-eels-withdraw-from-race-to-sign-penrith-panthers-star-moses-leota-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/779391\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: The Mole | Parramatta Eels withdraw from race to sign Penrith Panthers star Moses Leota | Exclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parramatta<\/a> have dramatically pulled out of the race to sign star Penrith<\/a> front-rower Moses Leota.<\/p>\n

Nine.com.au\u00a0revealed last week the Eels were leading the race to sign the four-time premiership<\/a>–winning prop<\/a>, who has been given permission to negotiate despite being under contract until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

\"BRISBANE,<\/p>\n

Moses Leota could leave the Panthers.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

Leota was seen as a perfect fit for the struggling Eels, although they are believed to have come to an agreement with the Roosters<\/a> to sign controversial prop Spencer Leniu<\/a> next year.<\/p>\n

So where does this leave Leota? He is happy to play out his career at the Panthers, but there are several clubs still in the race.<\/p>\n

Sources close to the 30-year-old Penrith hardman have told\u00a0nine.com.au<\/a>\u00a0the following clubs have expressed interest in him.<\/p>\n

The Broncos<\/a>: They are losing Payne Haas and need some cement to harden up.<\/p>\n

The Dolphins<\/a>: He could be the man to replace Daniel Saifiti, who retired mid-season due to medical issues.<\/p>\n

Perth Bears<\/a>: Are getting a marquee player allowance from the NRL and Leota would be great for their young pack.<\/p>\n

Wests Tigers<\/a>: Showing some interest if they can fit him into the cap.<\/p>\n

Roosters<\/a>: They are keen.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, the PNG Chiefs<\/a> are not interested, possibly because Leota will be 32 by the time they make their long-awaited debut in the NRL<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parramatta have dramatically pulled out of the race to sign star Penrith front-rower Moses Leota. Nine.com.au\u00a0revealed last week…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":779392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-779391","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\/779391","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=779391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/779392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=779391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=779391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=779391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}