We may be deep into an off-season that feels as though it will never end, but rugby league never sleeps.
North Queensland Cowboys fans, having just endured a horror 2025 season, have been dealt a huge blow in the past 24 hours.
QLD, Kangaroos and Samoan star Murray Taulagi's time at the club looks as though it is set to end at the completion of the 2026 season.
Reports indicate the player and club look set for a split as the Cowboys look to use his salary elsewhere.
I doubt he'll be without a club for very long. In fact compiling this list was one of the easiest I've ever seen.
Here are six potential landing spots for Murray Taulagi:
3. Perth Bears
The Perth Bears are yet to formally announce an NRL signing, although players have been linked left, right and centre.
Let's add the QLD and Kangaroos representative to that list right now.
26 year's old. Over 100 NRL games. Rep regular. This is the kind of signing who would kickstart other signings, whilst adding undoubted ability.
Taulagi doesn't carry the profile of a Reece Walsh or the like, but his image holding up a Perth Bears jersey would be plastered everywhere across the country.
I would argue that Taulagi is the perfect signing for Perth. He's an established, rep player, who won't cost $2 million and drag on negotiations for months.
What we see here is the failure of the NRL to devise and implement a workable transfer system. The clubs you have identified, Dan, want a winger _today_ not in twelve months’ time.
With no defined mechanism in place for transferring players, any transfer must be ad-hoc. Too hard for most clubs to invent, each time they want to see if they can pick up a player who is currently contracted.