Young Wests Tigers winger Junior Tupou has reportedly agreed to a contract with the Dolphins, seeing his current club restart their interest in a player swap for Melbourne Storm centre Justin Olam.
Tupou, who has impressed during his limited time in first-grade for the struggling Tigers, has reportedly had three rival clubs interested in his services.
The Dolphins were the last to join the party, but the side who will be coached by Kristian Woolf by the time Tupou reportedly makes the switch in 2025 have outgunned the interest from the Canberra Raiders and Sydney Roosters according to a News Corp report.
It was understood that the Tigers wanted to retain the winger moving into the future, but were also entirely uninterested in getting into a money war with any of the rival clubs in the picture.
Tupou, who will still remain a Tiger for the 2024 season, now has the NRL's new ten-day cooling-off period to potentially change his mind, but if he doesn't, he will become one of the first confirmed player swaps for 2025.
The move of Tupou has reportedly seen the Tigers restart their interest in Justin Olam however.
It's interest that had cooled in recent times, however, new Tigers head coach Benji Marshall met with Olam about a month ago in Melbourne, and the club are now back at the table.
The centre has been out of favour with the Storm since mid-way through the 2023 season, and while he had an offer to head to the Super League, the Papua New Guinea representative elected to stay and fight for his position.
A move to Sydney could entice Olam away from the Storm though, with the Tigers said to be in a position to offer Shawn Blore - who is believed to have signed with the Storm for 2025 anyway - in a player swap to bring the centre to Concord for 2024.
The Storm are desperate to add to their forwards after struggling through the 2023 finals series, and Blore's arrival that would allow Trent Loiero to shift into the middle could be exactly what the doctor ordered.
None of the Dolphins, Tigers or Storm have made comment.
