1 week Ago By Max McKinney
He's the former Australian Schoolboy tipped make his NRL debut this year who has caught the eye of the Newcastle Knights. Login or signup to continue reading Uncapped St George Illawarra Dragons forward Finau Latu visited Newcastle's training facility at Broadmeadow earlier this week, meeting with coach Adam O'Brien. The 18-year-old tearaway is exploring his options but the Dragons are keen to keep him.
A Minchinbury Jets junior, Latu has been part of the Dragons' development system for several seasons. He helped the club end a 32-year premiership drought by winning the SG Ball Cup last year before progressing to play Jersey Flegg and make his NSW Cup debut. He has continued at Cup level this season, and is named to start at lock for the Dragons in the reserve-grade competition this weekend.
In 2023, Latu - then a student of Patrician Brothers College, Blacktown - made the Australian Schoolboys side and was a teammate of Knights rookies Cody Hopwood and Logan Aoake. As part of a clause in his existing deal, Latu could talk to rival clubs after round six, but the Dragons gave him permission to commence those talks a little earlier. "He is off contract and we want to keep him, yes," Dragons coach Shane Flanagan told NewsCorp.
"Finau has a contract which goes until round six and he can then see what's out there. His manager wants to see what the going price was. "We gave them permission to get it done a week early so we can hopefully get it down earlier.
"He is one of several players who are our future who also played in that SG Ball grand final. He's a really good, young kid. "A lot of those SG Ball players will come up and play first grade.
We've seen a couple come through already - Hamish [Stewart] and Dylan Egan and I reckon Finau is probably the next one. "I would think he'd make his NRL debut at some point this year." Latu is already in the Dragons' top-30 roster.
Newcastle have several forwards in their NRL squad off contract this season, including experienced trio Adam Elliott , Jack Hetherington and Mat Croker, and uncapped Paul Bryan. Prop Leo Thompson is leaving the club at season's end, joining the Bulldogs on a four-year deal . NEWRL : The ex-NRL players filling marquee roster spots in Newcastle RL Max McKinney is a sports reporter with the Newcastle Herald.
He previously worked in news, covering mainly local government and transport. Max mostly reports on the Newcastle Knights, but also covers a mix of local sport. Max McKinney is a sports reporter with the Newcastle Herald.
He previously worked in news, covering mainly local government and transport. Max mostly reports on the Newcastle Knights, but also covers a mix of local sport. Daily Today's top stories curated by our news team.
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