Rugby league great Steve ‘Blocker’ Roach has praised the Sharks’ clandestine signing of Addin Fonua-Blake, and advised Jarome Luai to knock back his beloved Tigers.
Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon stunned the NRL on Tuesday afternoon when he announced the club had secured Fonua-Blake on a four-year deal from 2025.
The Warriors superstar prop requested a return to Sydney for family reasons and he’d been linked with the Bulldogs, Dragons and Tigers before they pulled out.
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But it was the Sharks whose Christmas came early fore the player Roach described as the best moving front-rower he’d seen in decades.
“That’s a huge signing, a great signing. I love how they go about their business, the Sharks, they just get it done,” Roach told foxsports.com.au.
“Everyone was talking about the Dragons and Dogs, the Tigers dropped off. Then the Sharks land him on a four-deal, not bad, not bad at all.
“He’s a very, very good player and what he’s got better than any other front-rower is he’s got real late footwork and he would just be so hard to tackle.
“He’d be hard enough to tackle anyway but then with that late footwork… he moves better than any other big bloke I’ve seen for a long time. He’s a monster and just watch his late footwork.”
Fonua-Blake will turn 33 in the final year of his new deal, but Roach said Conulla would “get their money’s worth” and emphasised it was a game-changer for their premiership chances.
“The players get looked after like silk worms these days. He’ll have no worries playing another four years after next year, it’s a bloody good signing,” Roach said.
The Sharks have finished second and sixth in Fitzgibbon’s first two years at the helm, but they’re 0-3 in finals under the coach.
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“Craig Fitzgibbon is a smart bloke, he would identify what he actually needs,” Roach said.
“What happens a lot of the time with the lowly clubs is someone comes on the market and they buy him for the sake of buying him. Whereas I think Fitz would strategically plan what he actually needs to make his side better than sixth (on the ladder).
“When you’re on the bottom of the ladder you just grab what you can.”
Balmain legend Roach suggested the Tigers were doing just that in their pursuit of three-time Panthers premiership winner Luai.
Penrith tabled Luai a two-year extension worth $1.7 million before the Tigers dwarfed that offer with a deal reportedly worth $6 million over five years.
Roach, who spent his entire Australian career at Balmain, said he’d like to see the five-eighth at the Tigers but thinks Luai should stay at the premiers.
“He won’t go to the Tigers. He’s come out and said he hasn’t signed with them (after reports that he’d agreed to a deal). I’d be surprised if he does now,” Roach said.
“Why would you go from the team winning the premiership to the wooden spooners, I don’t get it.
You’ll get cash down the track if you’re a one-team player, it doesn’t matter, you’ll make more that way.
“The thing is, if you’re any good, a decent player, you generally don’t move around clubs unless there’s family stuff going on.
“Blokes like Luai, if he’s a one-club player at Penrith he’ll make money for the next 30 years, don’t worry about the next three or four years.
“And those guys deserve to be looked after by the club… three premierships in a row, not bad.
“I’d like him to come, he’s a good player, but I have my doubts.”
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