Jackson Hastings made the move yesterday from Wests Tigers to Newcastle Knights.
The Knights become Hastings’ fifth team in six seasons. Hastings has been at Salford Red Devils, Wigan Warriors and Wests Tigers in recent years.
After just one year with the Tigers, he leaves for the Newcastle Knights. This is down to the fact Wests already have Luke Brooks and Adam Doueihi at the club and were looking to strengthen their pack so offered up Hastings in a swap deal for David Klemmer.
This ambition to strengthen the club’s pack has also seen the Tigers chase Wigan Warriors star John Bateman.
Meanwhile, the Knights made this play after the club has been looking for a replacement for Mitchell Pearce since he left for Catalans Dragons and extra pressure was placed on this pursuit when Jake Clifford headed to Hull FC.
The Knights had been chasing Hastings’ Wests teammate Brooks for 12 months to fill this void and according to the Sydney Morning Herald, it would be Brooks joining the Knights and not Hastings if not for Brooks’ huge salary.
This is why they spent 12 months vying for Brooks only to spend less than 12 days to sign Hastings on to a three year deal.
Thus, Hastings’ future is secure until the end of 2025 unlike Brooks who is in the final year of his deal whilst the Tigers chase Parramatta Eels star Mitchell Moses.
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