News Isaac Matalavea-Booth gone

[bradtalo]

The Canterbury Bulldogs have confirmed the departure of a young forward as they continue to shake-up their roster for the upcoming 2025 NRL season.

Speaking on X (formerly known as Twitter), Canterbury Bulldogs GM of Football Phil Gould confirmed that young front-rower Isaac Matalavea-Booth is no longer with the club.

Compared to Nelson Asofa-Solomona, due to his size - 200cm and 127kg - he joined the Bulldogs from the Gold Coast Titans, where he was once a development player and featured for their affiliate team, Burleigh Bears, in the Hastings Deering Colts competition.

A student of the famed Keebra Park, he spent most of his time at Belmore in the Ron Massey Cup and couldn't quite push for a spot in the first-grade squad.

Matalavea-Booth's departure from the Bulldogs comes after the confirmed exits of Chris Patolo, Harrison Edwards, Hayze Perham, Jeral Skelton, Joash Papalii, Jordan Samrani, Josh Addo-Carr, Kitione Kautoga, Poasa Faamausili and Zane Tetevano to either rival teams or retirements.

Karl Oloapu is also linked with a return home to Queensland with The Dolphins, while young brothers Fanafou Seve and Itula Seve have left for the Sydney Roosters.

Bulldogs confirm departure of young forward

He was compared to Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

www.zerotackle.com

 

[Bulldogsforlife23]

Constantly injured harley played any games anf very unfit although had some good moments

 

[Benno Bulldog]

Good luck to IMB hope you do well where ever you land mate. Onward and upwards for Doggies we finding some spaces.

 

[2ndphase]

The Canterbury Bulldogs have confirmed the departure of a young forward as they continue to shake-up their roster for the upcoming 2025 NRL season.

Speaking on X (formerly known as Twitter), Canterbury Bulldogs GM of Football Phil Gould confirmed that young front-rower Isaac Matalavea-Booth is no longer with the club.

Compared to Nelson Asofa-Solomona, due to his size - 200cm and 127kg - he joined the Bulldogs from the Gold Coast Titans, where he was once a development player and featured for their affiliate team, Burleigh Bears, in the Hastings Deering Colts competition.

A student of the famed Keebra Park, he spent most of his time at Belmore in the Ron Massey Cup and couldn't quite push for a spot in the first-grade squad.

Matalavea-Booth's departure from the Bulldogs comes after the confirmed exits of Chris Patolo, Harrison Edwards, Hayze Perham, Jeral Skelton, Joash Papalii, Jordan Samrani, Josh Addo-Carr, Kitione Kautoga, Poasa Faamausili and Zane Tetevano to either rival teams or retirements.

Karl Oloapu is also linked with a return home to Queensland with The Dolphins, while young brothers Fanafou Seve and Itula Seve have left for the Sydney Roosters.

Bulldogs confirm departure of young forward

He was compared to Nelson Asofa-Solomona.

www.zerotackle.com

Didnt impress!

 

[TwinTurbo]

I didn't see much of IMB but what I see left me with the impression he was like a VC Commodore with a Starfire 4, a big body with not much motor.


Team First

 

[Rumdogmillionaire]

I didn't see much of IMB but what I see left me with the impression he was like a VC Commodore with a Starfire 4, a big body with not much motor.


Team First

 

[Rumdogmillionaire]

Haha - great description.
I only saw in on NRLTV playing RM cup.
I feel sorry for him ...in a retro dinosaur kinda way.
He created mayhem with ball in hand ...but that ol' 4 cyl starfire motor coughed and spluttered through the next set of 6 in defence.
Poor buggar - always looked like he was in danger of blowing a head gasket.

 

[B-Train]

No surprise there. Good luck to him in the future

 

[Bulldog1966]

Adios.

 

[Rod67]

Hadn’t seen or heard of him but good luck to him.

They’re certainly busy trimming the fat. Eli Clark is another one gone according to a FB report.

 

[Bulldog1966]

Yeh Rod he bailed around Xmas, no loss either.

 

[Kelpie03]

Gus is doing the right thing by the club, in an attempt to find the very best.
The number he lets go is equal to the number he signs.
Hopefully he wont make the mistake and let even 1 or 2 superstars go.

 

[ASSASSIN]

Meh

 

[Burt Matton]

I didn't see much of IMB but what I see left me with the impression he was like a VC Commodore with a Starfire 4, a big body with not much motor.


Team First

That’s harsh, you didn’t give that engine a proper chance.

 

[Nano]

Who lol?

 

[The New Legacy]

Completely forgot about him to be honest

 

[Moedogg]

Should tryout NFL

 

[Raikkonen]

That Tetevano signing was filth

 

[Harry Oz]

I imagine what happens is young guys like this will always promise to work hard on their fitness if they are offered a development contract in the big smoke.
If anyone ever works out how to tell if a 20 year old really is going to commit to their promises, to a level of hard work they have no experience with, they will make $$$millions.
I hope he has learnt a lot from the experience & does well in life.
Like all young people who have a crack at making their dreams come true.
Good luck to him.

 

[Alan79]

I imagine what happens is young guys like this will always promise to work hard on their fitness if they are offered a development contract in the big smoke.
If anyone ever works out how to tell if a 20 year old really is going to commit to their promises, to a level of hard work they have no experience with, they will make $$$millions.
I hope he has learnt a lot from the experience & does well in life.
Like all young people who have a crack at making their dreams come true.
Good luck to him.

The beauty of having a reserve grade full of fringe NRL players is that it'll largely expose the players who never learned to train hard. People tend to underestimate some of the fringe players. But I'd guess that a lot of them are hard as nails. They'd have put in twice the effort of a lot of others just to be keeping the NRL dream alive. And it wouldn't surprise me if they take it as a personal challenge to put youngsters who are on a fast track in their place.

So it's not surprising that this is where a lot of highly touted juniors realise they peaked as teenagers.