Wests Tigers coach Michael Maguire has dismissed the prospect of luring gun Panthers hooker Apisai Korisau to Concord a year early.
Koroisau is among a host of NRL players to have signed a contract with a rival club during this off-season but beginning in 2023.
“I don’t think (he will come early). I think he’ll be (at the Panthers) for the next season and we’ll get him in 2023,” Maguire said on SEN radio.
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The NSW State of Origin representative penned a two-year deal with the Tigers in November, but he has a year to run on his Panthers contract.
“I’ll be very focused on the players we’ve got (already). We’ve got (hookers) Jacob Liddle and Jake Simpkin,” Maguire said.
“There have been some big developments there over the last 12 months with both of those boys.”
Liddle is 25 and has played 64 NRL games since debuting in 2016, while Simpkin is 20 and has made nine appearances since debuting this year.
Liddle has been the Tigers’ primary No.9 since Harry Grant, who carved out an exceptional 2020 season on loan at the joint-venture club, returned to the Storm for 2021 and beyond.
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“The organisation looks to the future, but we’re very much about what we can achieve now and what we want to be able to achieve this year.
“The experience that a lot of our younger players we’ve debuted over the last sort of two years – I’m looking forward to seeing how they take a hold of this season, like Shawn Blore and Daine Laurie. There’s many more there that have debuted over the last couple of years, and they now have the experience.
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“In the organisation I’ve really wanted to build some depth with the junior group coming through, so then you can keep those players together for a period of time. The longer they play together the cohesion obviously comes into play. We’re now getting to that stage where a lot of these players have played between 30 and 50 games. That experience is vital now in the big games.”
The Tigers have the longest current finals drought in the league, having not qualified since 2011.
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