Approaching the June 30 deadline, reports have emerged that rivals Canterbury Bulldogs and St George Illawarra Dragons could be involved in a potential player swap.

Over the past few weeks, the Bulldogs have been decimated by injuries and suspension to key members of their forward pack.

Jacob Preston (suspension), Jack Todd (arm), Jaeman Salmon (ankle) and Sitili Tupouniua (suspension) are currently on the sidelines for an extended period of time.

Aiming to revamp their forward stocks, reports have emerged that they are hoping to secure new signing Finau Latu earlier than expected. This would see the 2023 Australian Schoolboys representative potentially join the club in the coming weeks.

"A big player swap between the Bulldogs and the Dragons is on the cards before the June 30 deadline,"ย The Triple M Whisperer said on Triple M Breakfast with Beau and Woodsy.

"The Bulldogs want Finau Latu early and are working with the Dragons to see which players goes the other way."

Currently contracted with the St George Illawarra Dragons until the end of the season, Latu recently agreed to join the Bulldogs from 2026 onwards after rejecting a three-year contract worth $1.2 million from the Newcastle Knights.

Primarily playing as a lock, he is part of the next generation of forwards at the Dragons and has slowly transitioned from theย Harold Matthews Cupย to making hisย NSW Cupย debut last season.

A junior of the Minchinbury Jets, he has been one of the standout of the Dragons pathways system since his arrival in 2022.

"Without a doubt, I wanted to keep him," Dragons coach Shane Flanagan recently said.

"I'm not happy about the negotiation side of it. It has been handled poorly...terribly.

"Sometimes you lose them because you're not willing to pay a certain fee, or you don't want the player, but we wanted to keep him and we aren't happy about it.

"I just didn't like the way it was handled by his management. It was handled poorly. Really poorly. We have brought the young bloke up for the last three or four years, we wanted to keep him, but we never got an opportunity too.

"It's a concern for me at the moment. I've got some good relationships with agents; they all have their pros and cons, but as I said, the handling of this one has been poor."