Tino to Titans: Fa'asuamaleaui makes switch from Storm

Storm rookie Tino Fa’asuamaleaui has landed a significant pay day by shifting north to the Gold Coast Titans from 2021.

Fa'asuamaleaui has inked a lucrative three-year deal with the club following a raft of interest in the Junior Kangaroos representative, led by the Warriors.

Still 19 and with only five games of first grade from the bench to his name, Fa'asuamaleaui has nonetheless become one of the hottest young properties in the game with four clubs tabling offers for his services.

Despite reports Fa'asuamaleaui made a verbal agreement to join the Warriors on a four-year deal earlier this week, the Kiwi franchise was instead informed on Thursday that he would be knocking back its multimillion-dollar offer.

At this stage Melbourne are not willing to release Fa'asuamaleaui from the final year of his current deal to link with the Titans.

The Titans confirmed the second-rower would join the club from 2021 on Thursday afternoon.

The signing is a significant coup for rookie coach Justin Holbrook.

"Tino has already proven to be one of the most promising young players in the game and we’re excited to have him joining the Titans," Holbrook said.

"His signing is a huge win for the club considering the high-demand and interest there was in Tino from a number of NRL clubs.

"We have a great crop of local talent here and off the back of the re-signing of AJ Brimson, Moeaki Fotuaika and Phil Sami, Tino is another one of those young players that we can look forward to seeing in action in the future."

Melbourne released a statement on Thursday confirming the Storm's own contract extension was withdrawn after a deadline on the offer passed.

"Storm was made aware by Tino's representatives that the club was highly unlikely to be able to compete with the money being offered for a young man who is at the start of his career," Melbourne's statement read.

The announcement concluded that Fa'asuamaleaui would be "competing for a spot in Storm’s best 17 in 2020".

Standing at 197cm and 115kg, he played four representative games for four sides in successive weeks recently, turning out for Samoa in the World Cup 9s and their fully fledged Test in between appearances for the Prime Minister's XIII and Junior Kangaroos.

The move north allows Fa'asumaleaui to take his young family back closer to his home town of Gympie on the Sunshine Coast.