Wests Tigers' coach Michael Maguire has shut down reports the club will welcome Apisai Koroisau to Concord a year early.
Already an off-season of mega moves, one of the biggest was that of Koroisau, who has linked up with the Tigers from 2023 on a two-year deal with a mutual option for a third.
The star hooker, who was part of the Penrith Panthers grand final winning side of 2021, is still on contract at the Panthers for 2022.
Despite that, rumours have been persistent that he would move to the Tigers a year early, with the joint venture reported desperate to land the veteran, who has played in two premiership victories and made his State of Origin debut in 2021.
The Tigers reportedly offered either Jake Simpkin or Jacob Liddle to the Panthers, but the club at the foot of the mountains reportedly shut down any hint of that move occurring rapidly.
Maguire told SEN Radio that he doesn't believe Koroisau will join the club a year early, and that the club were committed to Simpkin and Liddle.
“I don’t think (he will come early). I think he’ll be (at the Panthers) for the next season and we’ll get him in 2023,” Maguire said.
“I’ll be very focused on the players we’ve got. We’ve got Jacob Liddle and Jake Simpkin.
“There have been some big developments there over the last 12 months with both of those boys.
“The organisation looks to the future, but we’re very much about what we can achieve now and what we want to be able to achieve this year.
“The experience that a lot of our younger players we’ve debuted over the last sort of two years, I’m looking forward to seeing how they take a hold of this season, like Shawn Blore and Daine Laurie.
“There’s many more there that have debuted over the last couple of years, and they now have the experience.
“In the organisation I’ve really wanted to build some depth with the junior group coming through, so then you can keep those players together for a period of time. The longer they play together the cohesion obviously comes into play.
“We’re now getting to that stage where a lot of these players have played between 30 and 50 games. That experience is vital now in the big games.”
The Tigers will need to shed at least one of Liddle and Simpkin from their books for 2023 despite the show of faith for 2022.
Liddle is currently contracted until the end of 2023, and Simpkin until the end of 2024, meaning the Tigers currently have three starting calibre hookers on their roster for 2023.
