ANOTHER club has entered the race to secure the signature of former Ipswich State High product and talented prop Josiah Pahulu.
Playing 19 games for the Gold Coast Titans last season, the hulking Pahulu impressed as one of the team’s rising stars, notching up 280 tackles, 21 tackle busts, 489 post-contact metres and 1271 running metres – averaging 63m per match.
For this workload he was named the club’s Rookie of the Year.
However, with the signing of Reagan Campbell-Gillard from the Parramatta Eels, and with fan favourite Tino Fa’asuamaleaui set to return from injury – it will make holding a spot on the roster hard for Pahulu so he is being shopped around.
The 20-year-old had already been linked with a move to the Bulldogs, but the Canberra Raiders have expressed their interest to add him to their forward pack.
The Raiders will look to increase their approach with their offer, having missed out on the opportunity to sign boom prop Leo Thompson recently.
With two clubs now interested in securing his services, Pahulu is rumoured to have requested immediate release from the Titans so he can start afresh elsewhere.
Rumoured bad blood between player and club stems from Pahulu being rested for the Gold Coast’s final game of the 2024 season.
Had he played in that, the 20-year-old would have received a $40,000 bonus.
Canberra had set their sights on Knights prop Thompson, who goes off contract at the end of 2025, but according to league insider Danny Weidler, Pahulu is the Green Machine’s “Plan B”.
“I know Mal Meninga was up there (at the Titans) for a while and Mal is now at Canberra and he reckons this kid’s got it,” Weidler told media.
But the Titans are not willing to let a player with such potential leave without a fight. It will be interesting to see where Pahulu will end up and what it will take to keep him on the GC.
