PNG Chiefs target Joey Manu with tax-free deal as Racing 92 contract nears its end

The PNG Chiefs are actively pursuing Racing 92 centre Joey Manu, with the NRL expansion franchise’s GM of Football Michael Chammas confirming the 30-year-old visited Port Moresby with his family and that talks are ongoing ahead of his contract expiry at the end of the current season.

Manu is a two-time NRL Grand Final winner, having claimed back-to-back titles with the Sydney Roosters in 2018 and 2019. The inside centre, who can also play outside centre and on the wing, left the NRL in 2024 to join Steve Hansen’s Toyota Verblitz in Japan’s Rugby League One, initially hoping the move would attract interest from one of New Zealand’s five Super Rugby Pacific franchises. Instead, he secured a deal with Racing 92 in the French capital.

Before returning to Paris for pre-season training at Racing’s facility in Le Plessis-Robinson, Manu took his family on a guided tour of the Chiefs’ proposed facilities in Port Moresby — a visit Chammas described as encouraging.

“There are some big names. It’s been well documented that Joey Manu came to PNG a couple of weeks back and spent some time there with his family,” Chammas told Channel 9’s 100% Footy. “He’s back in Paris at the moment preparing with Racing 92 for their season. So we’re hopeful that Joey wants to join, and by all reports he enjoyed himself over there.”

Chammas was candid about the financial appeal of the franchise’s offer, with all player salaries structured as tax-free. “Everyone will talk about tax-free, and it would be naive to say that doesn’t get you into the conversation,” he said. “That’s a big factor for a player to come over there and set yourself up for life.”

Beyond the financial package, Chammas pointed to the reception players have received when visiting the country as a powerful recruitment tool. “Of course, it’s a developing country, but the people there are rugby league mad. They’re so hospitable, so friendly, and every time we’ve taken somebody over there, they’ve said the exact same thing to us: ‘We didn’t think it would be like this.’”