The Canterbury Bulldogs have reportedly secured the signature of a former local junior and international representative, Jacob Kiraz.
Kiraz spent the 2021 season in the Newcastle Knights system on a development contract, but didn't make his NRL debut.
Prior to that, the St Johns Eagles junior had been identified as a talent in the Canterbury junior pathways stem in 2015 as an under-15s player. He then made the move to the St George Illawarra Dragons where he was apart of the clubs 2019 SG Ball squad, playing eight games.
For 2020, Kiraz moved to the North Queensland Cowboys on a three-year contract which would ultimately only last for one season.
Prior to that, he had played two Tests for Lebanon, playing off the bench against Fiji in his debut, while he was also a part of the Lebanon 9s squad for the Rugby League 9s World Cup before being disqualified after one game after it was revealed he wasn't yet 19.
Spending 2021 in Newcastle, Kiraz, who plays as a winger, scored two tries in nine games for the New South Wales Cup squad, with his performance peaking in Round 9 when he ran for 143 metres against the Canberra Raiders. The reserve grade competition was suspended and eventually cancelled in the middle of the year after COVID forced New South Wales into lockdown.
According to Wide World of Sports, he has now returned to his junior roots, although it's unclear at this stage whether his contract is development or top 30 in nature.
He had been upgraded to the top 30 in 2022 at the Knights, but wanted to return to Sydney.
Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould say he had plenty of ability.
"He's a good kid with plenty of ability," Gould told the publication.
The 20-year-old is likely to begin training with the Bulldogs in the coming days.
