BY CURTIS WOODWARD

Tuimoala Lolohea is one of the most prodigious young talents in the NRL but that won’t be enough to keep him at the New Zealand Warriors in 2017.

The Warriors are confident the contract of former Parramatta captain Kieran Foran will be rubberstamped by the NRL with the playmaker already settling into Auckland with his new teammates.

If Foran is indeed granted permission to play again – Lolohea is gone.

Lolohea’s first choice position is five-eigth and wants to lock down the spot long-term for the Warriors but his agent has already gone on record saying that if the Foran deal goes ahead, Lolohea will leave the Warriors.

“He doesn’t want to leave and until the Foran situation is sorted out there is nothing I can do,” Stan Martin told The Daily Telegraph.

“It depends on Kieran, it really does. Tui wants to stay, he doesn’t want to go.

“But at the end of the day if pathways get closed he also knows that he has got a talent and he can go and ply his trade somewhere else.

“… If Kieran comes and Kieran goes to five-eighth Tui will certainly not be here.”

The81stMinute understands Kearney is keen on Lolohea but not for the reasons Lolohea was hoping.

According to a source close to the club in Auckland, Kearney is adamant Lolohea would make a better outside back than playmaker and that prospect Ata Hingano was being groomed to partner Shaun Johnson in the long-term.

“Steve don’t want Tui in halves… they think they better off with Ata for [the] future” the source texted us.

Hingano made his NRL debut late in the season against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville.

Lolohea has recently been linked to St George Illawarra where the Dragons would have to back flip on their plans to start Drew Hutchison in the halves with Gareth Widdop while Wayne Bennett is said to be keen on playing him in the centres at the Brisbane Broncos.

@woodward_curtis