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.
1. Perth Bears
It will come as a shock to nobody to see the Perth Bears as the club who should be landing the signature of Sam Verrills.
As it stands, the club have no official first-choice hooker for their inaugural season.
All reports are that Jamie Humphreys has signed on, although that's still not official. When, or if, he does, either he or Tyran Wishart could play hooker, but even then, they are looking short in the number nine department.
Verrills taking a punt on a move across the country is the exact sort of thing that might get his career going again, and while he may not term it as ideal, it's a way potentially into a starting side in the NRL.
Where this one gets a bit murky is the fact he has spent time with Bears' head coach Mal Meninga on the Gold Coast, and, at this stage, there hasn't been so much as a report linking the club with a play for Verrills.
Still, Verrills is the best dummy half off-contract at the end of this year and the Bears should be picking up the phone.
