Tigers part company with Nofoaluma after $300k payout
By Adrian Proszenko and Michael Chammas
David Nofoaluma has officially parted company with Wests Tigers after accepting a $300,000 payout to walk away from the final two years of his contract.
The development ends an ugly standoff between the club and its greatest tryscorer, who will no longer be required to front a new-look Tigers board after an agreement was struck to part company.
The tension between the parties was at breaking point; the Tigers had issued Nofoaluma with a second breach notice within in a month, while explosive accusations were made by the winger to the Rugby League Players’ Association that rookie coach Benji Marshall told him that he would not play NRL again if he stayed at the Wests Tigers.
Almost eight years ago, a nasty feud erupted between club legend Robbie Farah and then-coach Jason Taylor, who tried to push the hooker out of the club by indicating his future would be in reserve grade if he stayed.
History was threatening to repeat itself until a severance had been agreed to on Tuesday. Wests Tigers declined to comment when contacted by the Herald.
Nofoaluma’s second sanction in a month came last week after he failed to adhere to club protocols when it comes to missing training due to illness.
The veteran winger notified a club official that he was not going to be able to attend training last Monday due to a bout of gastro, however did not respond to the club doctor’s attempts to contact him for the next 48 hours.
The club, after numerous attempts by several people to contact him, had to send a player to his house to check on Nofoaluma’s welfare.
This masthead first revealed in December that Nofoaluma refused to turn up to training over a perception of unfair treatment from the club, including the training methods adopted by the coaching staff.
Nofoaluma struggled physically and with his fitness levels upon returning to pre-season training and was one of the team’s least impressive performers in a time trial, struggling to keep up with the new standards at the club driven by Marshall.
After a series of meetings with the club and the RLPA, Nofoaluma returned to training almost two weeks later but was then sanctioned by the club for arriving late for a training session before the Christmas break.
Nofoaluma, who still has two seasons to run on his deal with the joint venture club worth about $525,000 a season, once again finds himself in hot water after being served another breach notice last week.
Nofoaluma has been handed at least three breach notices by the club in recent years.
Nofoaluma hasn’t had a happy time at the Tigers in recent years.
This masthead reported back in 2021 that he was stood down from the club’s senior leadership group after turning up to training hungover the morning after the wedding of former chairman Lee Hagipantelis’ daughter.
Nofoaluma, who was at the wedding alongside then-coach Michael Maguire, was unable to finish the session the following morning and was sanctioned for his indiscretion.
The Tigers have been trying to offload the winger to a rival club for the past two years and even lent him to the Melbourne Storm at the end of 2022 as part of a loan deal for the final few games of the regular season and the finals.
Nofoaluma has scored 100 tries from 192 games for the Tigers since his debut for the joint venture club in 2013.
His services have been offered to rival clubs on numerous occasions over the past two years, but the Tigers haven’t been able to agree on the amount they would contribute as part of his release. Nofoaluma had also attracted interest from the Super League.
