Josh Papali’i has ruled out the possibility of a move to Super League next season with the NRL man harbouring ambitions of playing at next year’s World Cup.
Papali’i has been strongly linked with a move to St Helens over the last couple of months, with the Saints being keen to add the Canberra Raiders man to their ranks for 2026. The signing of the forward, who has represented both Australia and Samoa internationally, would have been some statement of intent from St Helens given the way he has been performing in the NRL this season.
The 33-year-old has made 20 appearances for Canberra so far this season, scoring three tries along the way and his displays saw him called up into the Queensland State of Origin side for the first time since 2022 last month.
As such, Papali’i has high hopes of playing in the World Cup in a little over a year’s time and he believes a move to England would all but kill that dream.
“One of my goals is to play in the World Cup next year. So it’d be hard to do it from England,” Papali’i said in an interview with the Canberra Times.
“I don’t think I’m good enough to be in the Aussie squad, to be honest.
“Samoa would be nice, but if not, then it might have to be for the Cookies (Cook Islands).”
On the links to Super League, he added: “I honestly don’t know where that popped up from. People were just linking me up to England and other clubs.
“And I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ But no, definitely not. I’m just playing good footy at the moment, just enjoying it.
“I think [England] was an option back in the day, but just too hard to be honest.”
NRL man Josh Papali’i outlines contract hope
Papali’i has now made 325 appearances for the Green Machine over the course of his career after spending 15 seasons in the Raiders first-teams. And, he is keen to wrap up his future by penning a new deal with Canberra.
“There’s probably a good few years until I’m holding on too long,” he said, per AAP.
“I’m one to let my footy do the talking and if I’m not performing, I wouldn’t want to be hanging around.
“Hopefully we get (the deal) done soon and put it all to bed and focus on the finals.”
