The Gold Coast Titans have added a year to Sam McIntyre's stay in the south east corner of Queensland, agreeing to a one-year contract extension with the forward.
The 23-year-old made his debut for the Wests Tigers in 2020, playing 12 games during his rookie season.
The Port Macquarie junior would then make his Titans debut during Round 7 of the 2021 season having made the move from Concord, and would go on to play ten games for the club, as well as being named 18th man on five occasions.
He may have struggled to build consistent minutes in a powerful Titans forward rotation, but his versatility - where he can play in either the middle third or at second-row - makes him somewhat a valuable commodity to the club.
A three game stretch in the last three regular season games of the season saw him play 43, 47 and 57 minutes from lock in Round 23 and 24, and the second-row in Round 25 where he impressed with the football in hand and defended strongly.
Coach Justin Holbrook will likely use McIntyre more in the side this season following his good form, and the signing, which will see him remain at the club until at least the end of 2023, gives McIntyre two years to fight his way into a more permanent first-grade spot.
Holbrook said he is thrilled with the signing in an official club statement.
โSam is only 23 years old and is still at the beginning of his NRL career, so his game is going to continue to grow," Holbrook said.
โHeโs only had two seasons in the competition and heโs already shown what he can do.
โSam is putting in plenty of work this pre-season and Iโm confident that we will see his game continue to improve in 2022."