He was in destructive form last Saturday night and almost helped Wests Tigers to a shock win over Melbourne in Parramatta but young gun second-rower Kelma Tuilagi’s days in the black, white and gold are numbered after agreeing to a deal with a rival club for 2023.

Tuilagi informed Wests Tigers he had agreed to join the Manly Sea Eagles.

“Madge [Michael Maguire] fought to bring me here from Melbourne. I had tears in my eyes telling him,” Tuilagi told The Daily Telegraph.

“We came back from the Christmas break but Madge had Covid, so I had to wait another week before telling him in person. Holding it in was so hard. I didn’t want to do it on the phone. I wanted to tell him face-to-face because he was confident I would stay.”