The Gold Coast Titans have seemingly made the future of Sam Verrills very clear - it's not at Robina.
Verrills has been bumped right down the pecking order at the club to the point he is now not in the 19 on a weekly basis.
Instead, the former Sydney Roosters premiership-winner is plying his trade for the Tweed Heads Seagulls in the QLD Cup, where he has played four games, scoring a try and playing all 80 minutes in his most recent outing against the Norths Devils.
With Oliver Pascoe and this year's recruit Luke Sommerton being picked in first-grade, and doing a solid enough job, it appears there is little chance of Verrills forcing his way back in to Josh Hannay's side this year, barring injury.
With that being the case, the Titans unlikely to offer him a new contract, and the hooker already been seen meeting with Canterbury Bulldogs director of football Phil Gould during magic round, Zero Tackle have run the rule over the NRL's squads and depth charts for 2027 to determine the clubs who might be interesting having a roll of the contract dice.
6. North Queensland Cowboys
The Cowboys have turned a corner this year, with Todd Payten's job no longer in doubt despite it certainly being in that basket at the start of the campaign.
A big part of the reason why has been the acquisition of Reed Mahoney, who left the Canterbury Bulldogs after falling down the pecking order at Belmore to move north.
A tenacious dummy half who can play big minutes, defends well and is creative in attack, it's not an argument to say he would be an Origin player if Harry Grant didn't exist.
But that doesn't mean the Cowboys are laden with depth in the hooking department.
Soni Luke is at the club, but not signed beyond the end of this year, while Xavier Kerrisk is coming through the system but may also not be ready for a more fulltime roll in 2027.
Verrills provides great injury cover, some experience around the squad, and a solid option to play back-up to Mahoney.
From Verrills' point of view, it's one of the two big risk options on this list from a furthering career point of view, but it could be a match.
