Jenna Brooks takes a look at who could be coming and going in Super League as the 12 clubs continue to shape their squads ahead of the 2022 season
Thursday 18 November 2021 17:51, UK
Sky Sports rugby league reporter Jenna Brooks rounds up the latest Super League transfer rumours, including another NRL star who could be heading to the south of France...
We now know Mitchell Pearce will spend at least the next two years with Catalans Dragons - and reports suggest he will not be the only former NRL player to join the 2021 League Leaders Shield winners.
NRL Grand Final winner Tyrone May has been linked with Catalans and reports suggest the utility star's management are currently in negotiations with the club.
The 25-year-old became available when Penrith Panthers terminated his contract due to a controversial social media post after the Grand Final.
The NRL fined him approximately £4,000 for 'social media posts which do not align with the values of the game.'
Despite NRL chief executive officer Andrew Abdo admitting that May had not been blacklisted by the NRL for good, there hasn't been any interest from any other clubs in the competition at this stage.
With Pearce replacing James Maloney and the possibility of May, who also plays in the halves, joining him in Perpignan, it poses the question: What about Josh Drinkwater?
The 29-year-old has made it no secret that he loves playing for the Dragons and would consider, when the time comes, finishing his career in the south of France.
"I haven't even thought about it, I'm just going into a new two-year deal so I'm there until the end of 2023," Drinkwater told Serious About Rugby League. "France, for the moment, is my home away from home.
"My partner will be moving over early in 2022 and it's definitely somewhere I could see myself retiring in the future.
"You see a lot of overseas players, once they finish at the Dragons, retire and stick around so that may be something I'll look into, but I still have a lot of rugby at Super League level left before I think about that."
Dylan Napa is a man in demand in Super League with three clubs showing interest in the former Queensland State of Origin prop.
The 29-year-old was released from the Canterbury Bulldogs, and is reported to have received interest from Catalans, Leeds Rhinos and Hull FC. Indeed, reports suggest the latter have offered him a deal.
I contacted the Black and Whites asking if there was any truth to these rumours, and the club have said the reports are off the mark as they are at full quota for next year, so it is not a possibility.
The Rugby Football League's regulations state that every club can have seven overseas players in their squad at any one time.
Hull's seven overseas players are Carlos Tuimavave, Josh Reynolds, Tevita Satae, Andre Savelio, Manu Ma'u, Ligi Sao and Mitieli Vulikijapani.
The name Jake Trueman has been in the headlines a lot in recent times.
Trueman's contract at Castleford Tigers is up at the end of the 2022 season, and the young half-back has been linked with several clubs - the most recent being Hull FC.
However, the 22-year old's agent Craig Harrison has done his best to put an end to these rumours he calls 'disrespectful' to Castleford.
"Everyone said he's going to Leeds, Warrington and Melbourne, and then I've had someone saying he's going to Hull," Harrison told The Full Eighty Minutes Podcast.
"When you're at that level he is, if there wasn't every club in the country going after him then there would be something wrong, but it's still disrespectful to talk about anything other than Castleford.
"He loves it at Cas, he's a great kid and he's not someone who bangs down doors asking for moves."
