The St George Illawarra Dragons will bring QLD Cup prop Nick Lui Toso to the club on a one-year deal in 2022.
The Northern Pride prop, who stands at 188 centimetres and weighs in at 110 kilograms, grew up in Sydney, but has been with the Northern Pride since the 2020 season.
Playing 13 games in the COVID-hit 2021 season, Lui Toso has backed up this year with 17 games, taking his performances to the next level in the reserve grade competition as part of a team who took out the premiership before falling to the Penrith Panthers in the State Championship at Homebush.
He missed the grand final and State Championship, however, the starting prop averaged 156 metres per game while also tackling at over 92 per cent efficiency during a dominant reserve grade campaign.
Of those stats, he also had enormous post contact metres and ultimately took out the QLD Cup prop of the year award at the end of the campaign.
Lui Toso confirmed that he had interest from multiple clubs, however, wasn't going to leave Cairns for anything less than a fulltime NRL deal.
“I told myself I wouldn't leave unless there was a fulltime deal on the table,” Lui-Toso told the Cairns Post.
“A few clubs offered deals with NRL trials but I wasn't going for that.
“This opportunity came up and I couldn't turn it down.
“I loved my time in Cairns, I'll probably come back here.”
The deal is believed to be a development deal, but does give the barnstorming prop a chance to debut in 2023.
The Dragons took a punt on another player out of the QLD Cup ahead of the 2022 season in Jonathon Reuben, with the powerful winger making his NRL debut for the club during the season.