The Manly Sea Eagles have confirmed three signings in Luke Brooks, Jaxson Paulo, Tommy Talau and the re-signing of Tolutau Koula.
The trio will add experience to the Sea Eagles roster from 2024 in the backs and the halves.
After a long saga surrounding his future, Brooks made a decision to leave the Wests Tigers after requesting a release.
This decision left Manly free to sign him and he is expected to line up alongside Daly Cherry-Evans next season.
“Luke is a quality half-back, a former Dally M half back of the year, and brings over 200 games of experience to our club,’’ said Manly Coach Anthony Seibold.
“He has got a fantastic left foot kicking game and is a really good runner of the football.
“We feel as though he will add to the spine players we have already got at our club.”
Paulo, still only 23, joins the Sea Eagles after stints with the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters.
The winger appeared in the 2021 grand final for the Rabbitohs and Manly coach Anthony Seibold believes that his best form is yet to come.
“Jaxson brings over 50 games of NRL experience with him. He has been in really good systems at the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters,’’ Seibold said.
“His best year was in 2021 where he appeared in the NRL Grand Final. The thing I liked about him that year was just the consistency in his performance.
“He has started the year really strongly for the Roosters and we feel as though his best football is in front of him.”
In what has been a turbulent career for Talau to date due to injuries, he is a player that Seibold has kept an eye on for a couple of seasons now.
“Tommy is someone I’ve watched closely for a number of years. He made his debut as an 18-year-old at the Tigers but he has been hampered a little bit by missing the full 2022 season,’’ Seibold added.
Seibold believes that signing both Talau and Paulo will help to add competition for spots from 2024.
“I think he has shown this year his aggression. He is a powerful player but he also shows great skill,” the Manly coach continued.
“What Jaxson and Tommy add to us is competition for spots because we are trying to build consistent performances as a team.
“We want competition for spots and they add to the quality that we have already got in our outside backs.”
After a big 2023 for Koula, Seibold believes the youngster will only get better and he is pleased to see the junior remain at the club.
“Tolu has been a real find for our club over the last 18 months,’’ Seibold said.
“He has come through here as a junior, playing in our Harold Matthews and SG Ball teams.
“Tolu has further improved as a player this season and we feel that he has got great potential.
“With Tolu now signed on for another couple of years, we are really looking forward to seeing him play his best football.”
