Manly hand Olakau’atu pay hike ahead of extension talks

3 years ago - Sportingbase

State of Origin hopeful Haumole Olakau’atu will be earning $200,000 a year more until at least the end of the 2025 NRL season after the Manly Sea Eagles bumped up his contract ahead of adding more years to his playing deal.

The Tongan international is signed with the Sea Eagles until 2025 already.

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The pay hike, which will see Olakau’atu paid up to $500,000 more over the next two and a half seasons, was greenlit by Manly powerbrokers to better reflect the star’s market value. It also comes as the first official step in an extension plan, with the Sea Eagles hoping to two or three years to the 24-year-old’s already lengthy contract.

Manly sees Olakau’atu as a long-term star who can bolster the club’s forward pack for years to come and is hoping they can extend his deal all the way to 2027 with an option for a further season. That would keep the Tongan star—who is a smokey for a Blues jumper this year too—on the Northern Beaches until his late 20s.

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Once that time rolled closer, the club would open the books again and look to sign him through to his early 30s and make him a one-club player.

The Sporting Base understands Manly came into the salary cap windfall after Viliami Fifita and Alec Tuitavake joined the Dragons in a swap deal that saw Aaron Woods come the other way.

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Elsewhere in the club, Manly has also offered Tolutau Koula a new three-year deal to keep him in the squad ranks until 2027.

His situation is unique compared to others in line for extensions and upgrades because Rugby Australia is reportedly sniffing around, according to Adrian Proszenko at the Sydney Morning Herald, and were willing to pay him as much as $800,000 a year to swap ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

The same governing body already snapped up Joseph Suaalii recently.

Ex-Sea Eagles recruiter Scott Fulton, who just joined the Wests Tigers, has also been quietly checking in on the Manly stocks to see who he can lure down south. Between the two interested parties, the Manly bosses have ramped up their retention plans.

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Last week, there were talks that the Tigers are also interested in out-of-favour playmaker Josh Schuster. Anthony Seibold named the young gun on his extended bench this week ahead of round 11.

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