Emerging St George Illawarra junior Luciano Leilua is looking forward to securing a spot in the club’s NRL side after signing a two-year contract extension.
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The Dragons 2016 Holden Cup Player of the Year made his NRL debut in 2016 but was unable to add to his four caps in 2017. Despite this, he was named Illawarra Player of the Year after an exceptional NSW Premiership season.
“I’m excited to stay at the club until 2020,” Leilua said. “I’m grateful the club re-signed me, I’m enjoying my time here and looking forward to getting stuck into 2018.
“I’ve had a good preseason at the moment, I’ve come back in good shape and just got to try to stay in shape and give myself the best opportunity to play the full 80 minutes.”
Dragons recruitment manager Ian Millward said the 21-year-old has a promising future ahead of him.
"His training this preseason has been outstanding,” Millward said. “There's been a complete physical and mental change about the way he goes about his business. We really believe 2018 is going to be a super year for Luciano."
Luciano hopes to one day follow in brother Joey Leilua’s footsteps and represent Samoa, however he is keeping his focus on playing for the Dragons in 2018.
“Playing for Samoa is probably next year’s goal,” Leilua said. “My goal for now is preseason and getting myself into the best shape to get 2018 rolling. Through the offseason we’ve been working together, I’ve been trying to get some skills off Joey, trying to learn off him.”
Cameron Mee
Sports reporter at the Canberra Times
Sports reporter at the Canberra Times
