Joseph Leilua reportedly has a rugby league lifeline on the table from English second-tier club the Featherstone Rovers.
Leilua was let go by the Wests Tigers at the end of the 2021 season and has been in a one-sided war of words with the club ever since, discussing his displeasure with the situation at the Tigers since he was informed he wouldn't have a contract there for 2022.
The centre, who formerly played for the Canberra Raiders before a largely unsuccessful stint with the Tigers, ending with being left out of the group which travelled to Queensland as the competition relocated into a bubble, has previously expressed his desire to remain in the NRL.
That almost appears off the table now though, with teams confirming their rosters for 2022 and players returning to pre-season.
Leilua would be viewed by most clubs as a risk at this stage, and the 29-year-old, who was on a reported figure of around $850,000 during his two years at the Tigers, would need to take a major pay cut at any rate if a club were to bite.
According to The Daily Telegraph though, the only bite apart from an upcoming boxing debut is from the Rovers in England.
The second-tier club have been at the top of the competition for the last few seasons, but have been unable to promote to the super league.
They lost the 2021 version of the promotion play-off to Toulose, and the 2019 match to the Toronto Wolfpack. The 2020 season was abandoned after just five rounds due to the coronavirus pandemic while 2018 saw them miss the qualifiers by a single competition point.
While he has now returned to Australia, Fa'amanu Brown has spent the past season playing for Featherstone after being unable to secure an NRL deal, while another Samoan in Junior Moors is also part of the team.
Leilua was reported to have a deal on the table from US Rugby in October, but he shut that down almost immediately.
