{"id":553094,"date":"2026-04-27T10:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/553094\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T10:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T10:28:10","slug":"nrl-club-close-in-on-signing-st-helens-academy-star-and-son-of-ex-super-league-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/553094\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL club \u2018close in\u2019 on signing St Helens academy star and son of ex-Super League man"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"2400\" height=\"1532\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/ES018075.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>St Helens could reportedly be set to lose one of their shining talents in their academy with an NRL club \u2018closing in\u2019 on his signature.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s what has been reported by journalist Isaac Issa, who writes for ESPN in Australia, with Issa taking to social media to report that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/rugby-league-news-son-of-st-helens-legend-named-in-clubs-youthful-squad-to-take-on-championship-opposition-111639\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Chris Matagi<\/a>, son of Suaia, could be the next Super League youngster to make the jump to the NRL.<\/p>\n<p>According to Issa, Cronulla Sharks are \u2018closing in on the signature\u2019 of the highly-rated young prop, with Issa then reporting: \u201cThe young UK-based forward looks set to join the Sharks from next season.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It would be a major move for the young man but it could well also correspond with his father, Suaia, hanging up the boots and possibly returning back down under.<\/p>\n<p>Suaia Matagi first made the switch to Super League in 2018 and went on to play 50 games for each of Huddersfield Giants and Castleford Tigers, but he\u2019s been at Doncaster in the Championship since 2024.<\/p>\n<p>At 38, it\u2019s clear that at some point father time will catch up with Matagi and it could be the case that he retires and returns down under with his family, including Chris, in tow.<\/p>\n<p>Wigan Warriors\u2019 worries, Hull FC drama and NRL takeover talk \u2013\u00a0<a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=eeCNGs1BamY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Who is St Helens\u2019 Chris Matagi?<\/p>\n<p>Chris Matagi took the step up from scholarship to the St Helens academy in late 2024 and he has been named in the Red Vee\u2019s 21-man squad at times this year, including on the Good Friday derby, but he\u2019s yet to make an appearance.<\/p>\n<p>He has played for the senior team, albeit in a pre-season friendly that saw Paul Rowley utilise a squad made of predominantly of academy and reserve team players.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Matagi was named to the academy origin squads, representing Yorkshire despite playing for St Helens. That\u2019s because he had started his rugby league career with Siddal, who have produced plenty of NRL talents including Canberra Raiders pair Morgan Smithies and Matty Nicholson.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Sources indicate the Cronulla Sharks are closing in on the signature of highly-rated St Helens R.F.C. Academy prospect Chris Matagi, son of former NRL player Suaia Matagi. \ud83e\udd88<\/p>\n<p>The young UK-based forward looks set to join the Sharks from next season.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NRL?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#NRL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/CronullaSharks?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">#CronullaSharks<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/0ryn3iVVRv\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/0ryn3iVVRv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Isaac Issa Journalist (@IsaacIssaRL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/IsaacIssaRL\/status\/2048279264718696668?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 26, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768085712_213_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"St Helens could reportedly be set to lose one of their shining talents in their academy with an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":553095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-553094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/553095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}