Sydney Roosters breakout star Salesi Foketi is set to confirm a new three-year deal with the club that will lock him down until the end of the decade.
The 22-year-old has been something of a revelation this year for the tri-colours, starting in the second-row during the absence of Angus Crichton.
It's a role he will hold over the coming years given Crichton is off to rugby union, with Foketi finding a home on the edge for the tri-colours.
His form led to him becoming a permanent starter in Trent Robinson's side during the second half of the year, and News Corp are now reporting he has signed on through to the end of 2030 in what will be a three-year extension.
He was already signed until the end of next year, but the Roosters were desperate to get him locked away before the November 1 deadline, which they are understood to have done.
It's reported the deal may have been confirmed some time ago, but the Roosters were not going to announce it until after the season concluded - which it did on Sunday evening with a premiership for the Bondi Junction-based club, their first in seven years.
While Foketi wouldn't have been the headline grabber on November 1, he certainly would have attracted interest.
The market for second-rowers - and their market value - has exploded in recent times, with revelations Hudson Young has been offered more than a million dollars per season to remain with the Raiders, while the PNG Chiefs circle with an offer just below that mark.
Jacob Preston has already re-signed with the Canterbury Bulldogs for a figure believed to be around the $850,000 per season mark, while Liam Martin is also chasing seven figures to either stay, or potentially move on from, the Penrith Panthers.
Foketi has played 45 NRL games, having debuted at the start of last year, and managed 26 games this year - missing just two of the Roosters 28 on their way to the premiership with both coming early in the year.
While he had one start at lock in Round 16 and one at prop in Round 22, he has started in the second-row during eight of the Roosters' last nine games, although his versatility to play through the middle will be yet another boost for the Roosters in the coming years.
Trent Robinson is a noted fan of Foketi, with the New Zealand-born forward, with Queensland Origin prop Lindsay Collins recently revealing to The Sydney Morning Herald that Foketi 'folded him like a deck chair' during his first ever pre-season session at the club.
“It would have been his [Foketi's] first year, and it was the first session of pre-season, and I ran at him, and he just folded me like a deck chair,” Collins told the publication.
“I ended up on my back and everything. It was a real dagger to ego as well. I didn't know who this kid was, and he's just folded me. It was a little introduction into who Salesi is.”
