{"id":830220,"date":"2026-07-29T01:23:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/830220\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T01:23:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T01:23:29","slug":"too-focused-on-title-push-as-contract-talks-loom-the-western-weekender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/830220\/","title":{"rendered":"To’o focused on title push as contract talks loom \u2022 The Western Weekender"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Brian To’o plays his 150th NRL game on Saturday. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

Family is important to every football player but for people like Brian To\u2019o, it is everything.<\/p>\n

With his contract expiring at Penrith at the end of next season and talk of a move to the Chiefs in PNG doing the rounds, family is who To\u2019o will turn to when making one of the biggest decisions of his life.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of thought process that goes into it, especially with family,\u201d To\u2019o told the Weekender.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily is a big one for me. I\u2019ve got two kids now and a wife. The whole process is definitely going to be pretty crazy because it\u2019s not just my little family, it\u2019s our own families as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Brian To\u2019o with his mother after Origin. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

To\u2019o is going to be hot property if he hits the open market on November 1, with numerous clubs both here and overseas set to chase his signature.<\/p>\n

Just what he\u2019ll do is anyone\u2019s guess with not even To\u2019o knowing where his head is at right now in terms of his long-term playing future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really like to think too far ahead. I like to stay in the present moment. Whatever happens, happens,\u201d the 27-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still have a job, and all that contract stuff will come eventually. When the time comes, we\u2019ll have a chat about it, but as for now I\u2019ve got to focus on the games ahead and the Finals as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Brian To\u2019o chats with Nathan Taylor. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

After a sensational rookie season in 2019, To\u2019o will celebrate 150 NRL games this Saturday night when the Panthers battle the Canberra Raiders in Mudgee.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been an unbelievable ride for the Coke Zero fanatic that\u2019s seen him win four NRL premierships and counting. The St Marys junior is also on the cusp of reaching a century of tries and doing it during his 150th match will be extra special.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be pretty cool to have my last name up there on the honour roll, up there with all the other great players,\u201d To\u2019o said, who\u2019s planning a Spider-man try celebration if he scores on the Glen Willow Oval turf on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be pretty cool to reach 100 tries, especially for the brothers. They\u2019ve done so much for me and it\u2019s always good to give back to them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Brian To\u2019o with his parents. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

To\u2019o is the ultimate teammate and that couldn\u2019t have been more evident than recently when he handled his axing from Laurie Daley\u2019s NSW Blues side for Origin III with class and professionalism.<\/p>\n

To\u2019o said he was \u201call for\u201d the decision that saw Dolphin Jack Bostock take his spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe team always comes first for me, whatever is best for the team,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI put my heart and soul into that and just to see the boys lift up that trophy and bring it home, it definitely meant the world to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

And To\u2019o said he has no ill feelings towards Daley too, declaring he would love to earn his spot back next year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Panthers winger Brian To\u2019o. Photo: NRL Photos.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll obviously be back and I definitely want to earn the right to be back as well,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just got to keep working hard at club level and hopefully I can earn my spot again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Nathan Taylor is the Weekender’s Deputy Editor and Senior Sports Writer. He also compiles the weekly Chatter on the Box TV column. Nathan is an award-winning journalist, who has worked at the Weekender for a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brian To’o plays his 150th NRL game on Saturday. Photo: NRL Photos. Family is important to every football…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":830221,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-830220","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\/830220","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=830220"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/830220\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/830221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=830220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=830220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=830220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}