Lakes United winger Toa Mata’afa is poised to quit the club at the end of the season after signing a second tier contract with the Canterbury Bulldogs.
The former Wests Tigers lower grader linked with the Seagulls this season and made a couple of appearances for the Knights in the NSW Cup without making a big impression.
But Lakes coach Todd Edwards said he is not surprised his big winger will get another chance to earn higher honours at the Bulldogs.
“I rate him and I know Jason Taylor rated him when he was coaching at the Tigers,”Edwards said.
“Hopefully, he has a couple of more games to go for us before he finishes up.”
Lakes take on Kurri in Sunday’s preliminary final at Townson Oval with the winner to meet South Newcastle in the decider.
Edwards is yet to make a decision on who will replace injured backrower Jarrod Holmgreen, who tore knee ligaments in the loss to the Lions in the major semfinal.
He is also yet to decide if interchange hooker Daniel Peck, who was outstanding when he came on against Souths, will remain on the bench or start against the Bulldogs.
“I’m going to have to give that one a lot of thought to be honest,”he said.
“He was really good when he came on halfway through the first half and took advantage of some tiring defence.
“But we were really slow out of the blocks against Souths so there might be advantages in having him out there from the start as well.
“That is something we’ll weigh up as well.”
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Lakes met the Bulldogs three times during the season for two wins and a loss with Edwards rating them highly.
“Ronny [Kurri coach Griffiths] has done a great job with them and we know we are in for a game,”he said.
