Reigning player of the year Tohu Harris has given the Vodafone Warriors a huge boost on the eve of their 2021 NRL campaign by recommitting to the club until the end of the 2024 season.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 29-year-old's re-signing was announced to his teammates at their captain's run on Friday morning ahead of Saturday afternoon's season-opening encounter with Gold Coast at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford.
"Retaining Tohu is hugely important for the team and for the club as a whole," Warriors CEO Cameron George said.
READ ALSO:
"He's our current player of the year and he's a vital cog in our squad. This is a great boost for our club having an established squad leader committing to three more years at the Vodafone Warriors."
Harris has now extended his time with the club to seven seasons after originally being signed on a four-year deal from the Melbourne Storm.
"I love what is happening here the moment," he said.
"The staff and the players are gelling and it's been a really enjoyable off season. Now I can't wait for kick off tomorrow.
"We have some exciting kids coming through the system and I see a great future here in the coming years.
"The other leaders and I need to maintain the standards set so we can become a consistent top team in the NRL."
New head coach Nathan Brown has Harris locked in at No.13 following his successful switch from the second row to the middle last year.
"Having watched Tohu over the years I couldn't wait to coach him," Brown said.
"He is an elite player, one of the NRL's top shelf forwards, with a work ethic and skill set second to none.
"Tohu has also been a great contributor helping the young players and providing invaluable experience to them in the early years of their careers."
In being crowned the winner of the Simon Mannering Medal last year, Harris was the only player in the squad to appear in all 20 matches.
He featured prominently in a raft of key statistical categories. At the end of the regular season, he ranked fifth among all players for most post-contact metres (1339) and seventh for most metres gained (3465), an exceptional average of 173 metres a game, the fourth best among all forwards. He was also seventh for most tackles (845) - an average of 42 a game - and 10th for most runs (352).
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News