Sharks fans received the news yesterday that they had been waiting upon for months. The very news that threatened to never arrive.
Ronaldo Mulitalo re-signed withe club for a further three seasons.Despite interest from numerous clubs, the 25 year-old will spend his peak years in the Shire.
The re-signing ensured that the Sharks can now field their try scoring freak pairing of Ronaldo Mulitalo and Sione Katoa.
Which potentially leaves one of the game's best young talents potentially on the outside looking in.
Sam Stonestreet, the 22-year-old local junior, is either going to have to make himself impossible to overlook or bide his time to join Mulitalo on the run-on side.
Full disclosure, if there was a Sam Stonestreet fan club, I am member number one. I feel it's important to stress that this list is being compiled through a grimace and I'm hoping clubs two through five are never even considered.
With that said, below are five potential landing spots for Sam Stonestreet:
As per tradition with similar landing spot lists, we'll list the "boring" option here first.
If I'm the Sharks, I have a four year deal in front of Sam Stonestreet ... months ago! If not, I certainly have it drafted and ready to go the second he arrives at training tomorrow morning.
Stonestreet is a local junior and a lifelong Sharks fan. The 22-year-old has eight tries in his five NRL games as well as 29 tries in his 40 appearances for the Sharks NSW Cup team, the Newtown Jets.
Simply put, he is way too good for NSW Cup. He was the Jets' top try scorer last year despite spending time in First Grade. He crossed for a hattrick in the Interstate Cup prior to a concussion test ruling him out.
I'm a big fan of Sione Katoa but the two things you can't teach are height and speed. Stonestreet towers over Katoa and is considerably faster.
If I had my way, this would be a "five potential landing spots for Sione Katoa" list as Stonestreet is the future in the Shire.
โ Iโm hoping clubs two through five are never even considered.โ
I think you mean โone through fourโ but I get the idea.
If Iโm Stonestreet I might go to St George. Donโt even need to move house. If Iโve got friends in Cronulla (outside the other players in the club) then I donโt need to lose any of them.
If Iโm Sharks head of recruitment, Iโd have that four year contract ready, and let it be known on the grapevine that if anyone wants to pick up Sione Katoa, Sharks will pay the freight to move him on.