{"id":82085,"date":"2025-08-20T09:23:18","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T09:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/82085\/"},"modified":"2025-08-20T09:23:18","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T09:23:18","slug":"brandon-smith-reveals-whisper-linking-tino-faasuamaleaui-with-storm-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/82085\/","title":{"rendered":"Brandon Smith reveals ‘whisper’ linking Tino Fa’asuamaleaui with Storm return"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most in-demand players in rugby league, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui<\/a>, could be on his way back to the Storm<\/a> according to former teammate Brandon Smith<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old looks set to test the open market in November, despite being on a deal with the Gold Coast Titans<\/a> that could run until the end of 2033.<\/p>\n

Fa’asuamaleaui has clauses in his contract that allow him to negotiate with rival clubs and the likes of St George Illawarra, Canterbury and Perth have already been linked.<\/p>\n

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However, according to Smith – who played with the front-rower during Melbourne’s 2020 premiership team – Fa’asuamaleaui may reunite with Craig Bellamy and potentially replace Kiwi enforcer Nelson Asofa-Solomona<\/a> in the forward pack.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Nelson Asofa-Solomona\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“I heard a little whisper.. I heard something about Melbourne,” the Rabbitohs star said on The Bye Round Podcast.<\/p>\n

“Nelson’s contract is coming up. That’s all I’m saying, and he is on big money.”<\/p>\n

At this stage, Asofa-Solomona is signed until the end of 2027 – the same that year that Fa’asuamaleaui could be looking to leave the Titans.<\/p>\n

However, the towering prop has fallen out of favour numerous times in recent seasons and has reportedly been shopped around by the club.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A potential move back to where it all began for Fa’asuamaleaui would instantly put him back in the frame for premiership success, which James Graham believes is a factor that could help the Storm in negotiations compared to other teams.<\/p>\n

“For Tino and what he is dealing with at the Titans, he obviously doesn’t like this situation,” the England great said.<\/p>\n

“If he goes to Perth, you have to assume they are a work in progress.<\/p>\n

\"Tino<\/p>\n

Tino Fa’asuamaleaui of the Titans.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“If he goes to the Dragons, they aren’t screaming finals, although they are improving and they are achieving enough results. They aren’t that far away, and maybe Tino could be that person, but I think they need some more creativity in their halves.<\/p>\n

“But if Tino maybe just thinks I want to win, then it’s less about the money and more about the destination.”<\/p>\n

Fa’asuamaleaui has played more than 100 first grade games since making his debut with the Storm as a teenager and has gone on to represent Queensland and Australia.<\/p>\n

His potential exit from the Titans comes as the club prepares to farewell his younger brother Iszac Fa’asuamaleaui at the end of this season.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old will head overseas to link up with the Catalans Dragons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the most in-demand players in rugby league, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, could be on his way back to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-82085","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\/82085","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=82085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}