How the Tigers usurped the Dragons to sign Sunia Turuva from Panthers

Penrith premiership winner Sunia Turuva has signed a three-year, $1.3 million deal with the Wests Tigers in a huge boost for Benji Marshall’s rebuild of his side.

Turuva will become the fifth ex-Panthers premiership winner at the club, after Apisai Koroisau, Charlie Staines and Brent Naden signed with the Tigers, while Jarome Luai will also join the Tigers in 2025.

The deal comes as a surprise with reports that the St George-Illawarra Dragons were the favourites to sign the 2023 Dally M Rookie of the Year, before the Tigers swooped in and stole Turuva’s prized signature.

“It’s done boys, it’s done,” journalist Michael Carayannis told SEN 1170 Breakfast on Friday morning.

“I think if the Panthers thought if Turuva was going to leave it’d be to potentially play fullback at the Dragons but that’s not the way it’s going to play out.

“The interesting thing is it looks like he’s going to play centre; partner Justin Olam in the centres and be a backup fullback for Jahream Bula.”

While a major boost for the Tigers outside backs, it’s another blow in the recruitment market for the Dragons, who are yet to make a high-profile signing under Shane Flanagan, despite being outspoken about their desired signings.

Carayannis revealed Turuva has turned down more money from the Dragons to instead sign with the Tigers.

“The Dragons deal was somewhere between $450k and $600k but there were triggers in that contract depending on if he played 'X' amount of games at fullback,” Carayannis added.

“The Panthers were around that $300-350k mark, while the Tigers are around that $400-450k mark so he’s gone to the Tigers for significantly less than he potentially could’ve made at the Dragons depending on those triggers.”

It is also a blow for the Panthers, who must now replace another member of their 2023 premiership winning team, after Luai and James Fisher-Harris confirmed their departures earlier in the season.

While the Panthers have highly touted juniors likely to replace Turuva, such as Jesse McLean or Isaiah Iongi, it is yet to be seen how the heavy number of departures over the past four seasons will impact them in future years.