Category: MLR Move Summaries

MLR Player Movement Summary: December 2-8, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Faint jingle bells can be heard in the distance, the elves are hard at work, and Mariah Carey is almost completely thawed out for the holidays. Major League Rugby teams are staying busy as we move into December, with a bumper week around the league that included the unveiling of all home and away kits for the 2025 season! NARDB’s ranking of the 2025 home kits can be found here, and the away kit ranking will be coming later this week. This article, however, will focus on the player announcements from last week, December 2nd to December 8th, 2024. It will add a bit more context and detail to each move, giving fans a better understanding of the roles these players may play in 2025, and keeping them up to date on all the roster changes. The summary graphic just about stretches onto two pages, and as always here is page one:

Player Moves Around MLR: December 2-8, 2024 (1 of 2)
Returnees and Re-Signings

As you can see from the first page of the summary graphic above, the majority of last week’s player announcements were players returning to their 2024 teams. There were TWENTY re-signings announced last week across four teams, including 7 for Old Glory DC and 6 for Rugby FC LA.

Old Glory DC began their roster announcements for 2025 on December 1st, following an advent calendar type of reveal. Last week, they announced seven returning forwards from their 2024 pack. Beginning in the front row, the Flags announced the return of KoiKoi Nelligan, Martin Vaca, and Cali Martinez. A Washington DC native, KoiKoi Nelligan was drafted 34th overall by the San Diego Legion in 2022 out of the Army West Point rugby program, and traded to Old Glory shortly after in exchange for DC’s 1st Rd pick in 2023 (used to select James Rivers 10th overall). Nelligan has earned 15 MLR appearances for DC since 2023, including 13 in 2024 where he scored his first two MLR tries and set career highs across the board. Also returning at hooker is former Argentinian U20 player Martin Vaca, who scored 5 tries in 11 games (9 starts) in his debut MLR season in 2024, completing 114 tackles and amassing over 300m gained. Finally for the front row, the Flags confirmed the return of newly capped Canadian international prop Cali Martinez. Earning his test debut for Canada in a win over Romania in July, Martinez has earned 27 appearances since 2023, and was the highest drafted Canadian in MLR history when he was selected 3rd overall out of the University of British Columbia.

Moving into the second row, DC will have Tevita Naqali and Bill Whiteside returning next year. A MLR and Old Glory DC veteran, Fijian lock Naqali has scored 7 tries in his 54 appearances (51 starts) for DC since 2020, and is US-eligible through residency. He has over 550 tackles completed and 2,359m gained in posession in his career. 2022 Draftee Billy Whiteside also returns. Whiteside was selected 29th overall out of Lindenwood by New York, but did not feature in an MLR game for the Ironworkers. Following their withdrawal he joined Old Glory DC, earning his MLR debut and 12 appearances in 2024, including 4 starts and over 50 tackles. In the back row, Collin Grosse and Brady Daniel are both back for the Flags in 2025. Brady Daniel, the brother of DC standout and USA Eagle Cory, has 10 MLR appearances for Old Glory since 2022 including 7 in 2024 where he earned his first two starts and scored his first MLR try. Grosse, like Nelligan, is an Army West Poitn Alum and was drafted 15th overall by Old Glory DC in 2022. He’s scored 3 tries in 31 games (18 starts) across two seasons so far, completing an impressive 279 tackles.

Player Moves Around MLR: December 2-8, 2024 (2 of 2)

Moving away from Old Glory DC to Rugby FC LA, who began announcing their 2025 roster back in November. RFCLA announced 6 returnees of their own, all in the back line with 5 of them deemed domestic players. Rory van Vugt will return for a second year with LA and 4th year in MLR after playing with Rugby ATL between 2020-2021 before joining the Highlanders. Kiwi wing/fullback van Vugt has 5 tries and 33pts in 25 MLR games (24 starts) in his career, and scored a career high 16pts for RFCLA in 2024. Also returning on the wing is English born Canadian raised draftee Jack Shaw. Shaw was selected 22nd overall out of Bishop’s University by Rugby ATL in 2022, and followed the franchise to LA after representing the RATLers in 2023. Shaw has scored 8 tries in 24 games (22 starts) in his career, recording over 1,000m gained already.
Moving to the centre, another Canadian draftee returns in the form of Seth Purdey. A schoolmate of Shaw’s at Shawnigan Lake School in British Columbia, Purdey attended UC-Berkeley where he was drafted 4th Overall in 2022, also by Rugby ATL. Purdey scored his first MLR try for LA in 2024, earning 10 of his 17 MLR appearances and 6 of his 8 starts. RFCLA will also have newly US-eligible Irish centre Will Leonard returning for 2025. A MLR veteran, Leonard has 70 MLR appearances since 2019 between New York (2019-2021), Atlanta (2022-2023), and LA (2024), starting 65 times and scoring 13 tries. Leonard qualified for domestic status on residency, and has amassed just shy of 4,000m gained in his MLR career to date.
From the centres to the half-backs, RFCLA announced the return of US-born Australian scrum-half Tasman Smith for his 3rd season in MLR. Born in New York, Smith played with the LA Giltinis in 2022 before spending 2023 in the Shute Shield while finishing his studies at the University of Sydney. he returned to LA in 2024 and has earned 30 MLR appearances in his career to date, scoring 2 tries and completing over 120 tackles including a high of 77 in 2024. At fly-half, RFCLA have MLR Draftee Matt Anticev returning for his sophomore season. the USA national team are in desperate need of the next fly-half, so the pressure is on the Dartmouth alum and 6th overall pick from 2023. Another ATL pick, Anticev earned 6 appearances and 2 starts for RFCLA in his rookie season in 2024.

Staying in the Western Conference but moving to Texas, the Houston SaberCats continue their steady announcements for their 2025 roster. MLR veteran LaRome White will return for his 2nd season with the ‘Cats in 2025, his EIGHTH in the league. A 2018 MLR Champion with the Seattle Seawolves, White has 65 appearances under his belt between Seattle (2018), the Austin Gilgronis (2019-2022), the Chicago Hounds (2023), and the SaberCats (2024). He’s completed over 250 tackles in his career and has over 900m gained as a prop. Also returning to the Houston front row is SaberCats veteran Valdemar Lee-Lo. With the exception of 2022 that he missed due to injury, Lee-Lo has represented Houston in every season since 2020, earning 17 appearances to date and 7 starts. On the subject of injury, South African wing/fullback Gerrie Labuschagne will return for the ‘Cats after missing out on the entire 2024 season. Labuschagne scored 5 tries and 30pts in his 24 games (21 starts) between 2022-2024 and recorded over 600m gained in both seasons he featured for the SaberCats. Joining Labuschagne on the wing is Jeremy Misailegalu. A teammate of LaRome White with the Seattle Seawolves for their 2018 Shield winning season, ‘Missile‘ has 9 tries in 50 MLR appearances between Seattle (2018), the Utah Warriors (2019), Rugby ATL (2020-2021), and Houston (2024). He has over 250 tackles completed on the wing, and over 1,800m gained in his career.

Staying in the south but moving to the Eastern Conference, the Miami Sharks, like Houston, continue their steady announcements for 2025 with a further 3 returnees. USA Sevens man Chase Schor-Haskin returns for a second season in Miami after earning 10 appearances for them in their inaugural season. Schor-Haskin was drafted 6th overall in 2021 by New York before being traded to the NOLA Gold, representing them in 2022. He spent 2022-2023 in the USA Sevens program, returning to the league in 2024. The Sharks also announced a pair of depth pieces for their sophomore season in American Samoan prop Setu Vole and South African centre Josh McAdam. Raised in Hawaii, Vole was drafted 27th overall by the Sharks in 2023 out of Lindenwood, earning his MLR debut in 2024. US-eligible Saffa Josh McAdam attended Davenport University and trained with the Chicago Hounds in 2023 before playing with the USA Hawks later that year. He earned 4 appearances for the Sharks off the bench during their inaugural season.

Intra-League Moves

If you couldn’t already tell, the 20 re-signings and returnees took up a lot of the oxygen last week, but they weren’t the only moves. A handful of players are returning to MLR in 2025, but they’ll be wearing a different kit. This includes probably the biggest move of the week, with which we’ll start. Rugby FC LA announced the signing of 2021 MLR Champion, and 2021-2022 back to back MLR Back of the Year Billy Meakes from the Chicago Hounds for 2025. This move might have been jaw-dropping to the average fan, but to the hardcore MLR fanbase (such as those reading this article!), it was predictable. Meakes, who has 7 tries in 57 MLR games since 2021, represented the LA Giltinis between 2021-2022 under head coach Stephen Hoiles and Captain Dave Dennis. Fast forward to 2025, and Hoiles is the RFCLA Director of Rugby/HC, and Dave Dennis is Assistant Coach. More than that, Meakes (a new father) is an LA resident and even has a business there, Boulevard. Although an obvious move, this is a huge signing for RFCLA and Meakes, who will look to add to his 4,704m gained and 546 tackles back on the west coast.

In addition to the huge signing of Billy Meakes by Rugby FC LA, last week we learned who three more Dallas Jackals would be representing in 2025. The Houston SaberCats announced the signing of Woodlands, TX native Evan Conlon after selecting him 19th in the Dallas Jackals Dispersal Draft. Somewhat ironically, Conlon’s only appearance for the Jackals was off the bench in the Western Conference Semifinal, where Dallas stunned the 14-2 Houston SaberCats. With Conlon’s signing, the SaberCats have now signed all their picks from the dispersal draft. On that point, the Miami Sharks also complete the signings of their Dispersal Draft picks after confirming the signing of Marques Fuala’au having picked him 3rd. Fuala’au was drafted 3rd overall by the Dallas Jackals in 2023 and earned 16 appearances (3 starts) with the team in 2024, scoring 1 try and completing over 80 tackles. The Seattle Seawolves also confirmed the signing of one of their Dispersal Draft selections, newly capped Canadian international scrum-half Brock Gallagher. Selected 21st, Gallagher earned 15 appearances for the Jackals in 2024 including in the Western Conference Final against his new side, the Seattle Seawolves. Just before the 2024 playoffs, Alberta native Gallagher earned his test debut for Canada off the bench against Scotland. He earned his first test start last month against Romania.

New Additions and Retirements

Wrapping up this week’s MLR Roster Moves Summary, arguably the busiest team of last week, Rugby FC LA, announced the addition of Californian lock Mikaea Wynyard for 2025. A San Jose native, Wynyard has spent the last two years in the La Rochelle system in France, playing with their Espoirs team and being mentored by the likes of Australian Rugby World Cup Captain Will Skelton. Wynyard is no stranger to Major League Rugby as he was signed to a development contract by the New England Free Jacks for the 2022 season, but he didn’t feature for the MLR side.

At the other end of their career is another 2024 Dallas Jackal, Mitch Richardson. A fan favourite in Toronto with the Arrows, Richardson represented Canada as recently as last month, but called time on his professional career last week at the age of 28. Richardson scored 11 tries in 52 MLR games (43 starts), representing the Toronto Arrows (2019-2023) and Dallas Jackals (2024), he gained 2,122m in posession and completed 338 tackles. Richardson experienced two teams withdraw in as any seasons, but it is unclear if this had any bearing on his decision to retire.

That concludes this week’s summary of roster moves from last week. We’ve heard from all but one team so far, but maybe this week Anthem RC will begin their announcements. Which was the biggest move of the week for you? And are you happy with your team’s moves so far? Stay tuned for NARDB’s ranking of the 2025 Away kits coming later next week, and these summary articles released every Monday.

Be sure to follow NARDB and James on social media to stay up to date on player announcements as they happen. Follow @MLRStats on Instagram and/or Threads, either @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on twitter/x, and @JamDelay or @NARDB on Bluesky.

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MLR Player Movement Summary: November 25-December 1, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Another week gone and another Monday rolls around, which means it’s time for your weekly summary of player moves from around Major League Rugby from November 25-December 1, 2024! As always, this article will provide a little bit more context for all of last week’s moves, as well as add a few stats and a summary graphic to keep MLR fans up to date with all of the off-season moves. Last week, two teams began their 2025 announcements, so rest assured these summaries will stay busy through the holidays! As always, here is the first page graphic of last week’s summary:

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 25-December 1, 2024 (1 of 2)
Regular Re-signings

As with all of these summaries, we begin with the players returning to their teams for another season. Last week we had 11 resignings across 5 teams, including a trio each for the Houston SaberCats, Miami Sharks, and Rugby FC LA. Starting with the Houston SaberCats, who announced the return of Keni Nasoqeqe, Drew Wild, and Louritz van der Schyff for their 2025 campaign. Nasoqeqe, a US-eligible Fijian forward who has played 7 seasons in MLR through 2024, returns for his fourth season with Houston in 2025. The 6’4 lock/back row is an MLR stalwart with 74 appearances in his career so far, starting 52 times and scoring 10 tries. He represented the USA in a non-capped game against Stade Toulousain in September 2023. Kiwi fullback Drew Wild returns for his 3rd season with the SaberCats, having scored 5 tries in his 22 games (all starts) since joining in 2023. Wild spent this offseason playing with the Manawatu Turbos in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC), where he’s played since 2019. Finally for Houston, lethal South African centre Louritz van der Schyff returns for a fourth MLR season. Van der Schyff has scored 14 tries in his 28 games (also all starts) for the ‘Cats since 2022, completing over 200 tackles and gaining over 1,500m in possession.

Moving on to the Miami Sharks, who continue to announce their 2025 squad at a steady pace. They will have back front rows Alec McDonnell and Jonas Petrakopoulos, as well as fullback/wing Marcos Young for their sophomore season in Major League Rugby. Missourian prop Alec McDonnell is a MLR veteran, having earned 42 appearances since 2020 between New York (2020), Houston (2021-2023), and Miami (2024), setting career highs in starts (4) and Metres Gained (101) with the Sharks and recording in 3rd season in a row with over 50 tackles completed. Another MLR veteran is Dutch-born prop Jonas Petrakopoulos, who has 51 appearances and 10 starts, and was teammates with McDonnell in New York in 2020, before moving to Rugby ATL (2021-2023), re-uniting with McDonnell in Miami for 2024. The 2021 MLR Runner-up set career highs across the board in 2024, in appearances (16), starts (5), Metres Gained (76) and Tackles Completed (55). Texas born Florida raised Marcos Young will enjoy his 3rd season in MLR in 2025, having represented Old Glory DC in 2023 before joining the Sharks. Young has 6 tries in his 28 MLR games to date, earning 14 of his 23 starts with the Sharks and setting a career high in tackles last season with 82.

A third team with three returnees last week is Rugby FC LA, who began announcing their 2025 squad on Monday November 25th. Capped Canadians Andrew Coe and Conor Young will return for their second seasons in LA, as will USA Eagle Jason Damm, who followed the franchise from Atlanta. A 2022 MLR Champion with Rugby New York, Canadian 15s and 7s capped winger Andrew Coe has scored 20 tries in his 44 MLR games since 2022, including 7 in 12 games for LA in 2024! He’s gained over 3,000m in his career to date, and completed over 200 tackles. Fellow test capped Canadian Conor Young is back for a 3rd season in MLR after lifting the Shield with the New England Free Jacks in 2023. Like Petrakopoulos for Miami, Young set career highs across the board in 2024, including 103 tackles completed. Finally returning for RFCLA is stand-out forward Jason Damm, who scored 7 tries in 15 games (14 starts) and completed a very impressive 172 tackles in 2024. Damm has 48 career appearances in MLR, has gained over 2,000m with ball in hand, and completed over 500 tackles since 2019.

Finally for re-signings, the San Diego Legion continue to wrap up their roster announcements with the return of Aminae Amiatu-Tanoi for 2025. The former USA Hawk was signed with the Legion in 2023 but didn’t feature. He played with the Utah Selects in the Fall of 2023 and earned his MLR debut in 2024, making 4 appearances off the bench for the Legion. He’ll be looking to earn his first start in 2025. Over in the Eastern Conference, Old Glory DC began their roster announcements yesterday (December 1st) and are following a ‘Advent Calendar’ style to their reveals. They announced the return of MLR veteran front row Quentin Newcomer. Newcomer, who can play either side of the front row, spent 3 seasons with the New England Free Jacks (2020-2022) before being traded to Old Glory DC, and has earned 51 MLR appearances to date, scoring a try in each of his last 3 seasons.

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 25-December 1, 2024 (2 of 2)
Intra-League Moves

Just a reminder, an intra-league move occurs when an MLR player moves to a different team within MLR, rather than an inter-league move which would be a player moving to MLR from the Pro D2 or vice-versa, for example. We’ll get to the inter-league moves in a bit. There were only a pair of intra-league moves last week, but they were big! Rugby FC LA‘s first player announcement of the off-season was the signing of Houston SaberCats veteran and USA Eagle #539, Christian Dyer. A California native and UC-Berkeley alum, Dyer signed with the Dallas Jackals before they deferred their entry into MLR, and was selected by Rugby New York for 2021, but did not play in MLR until the follow season with the SaberCats. Dyer scored 19 tries in 45 games (44 starts) with Houston between 2022-2024, gaining over 1,750m and completing over 250 tackles. The utility back is a huge addition for RFCLA, and a big loss for Houston both on the field and off of it.

The second intra-league move sees another Dallas Jackal find a new home for 2025. Canadian-eligible Irish back row Ronan Foley was selected 14th in the Dispersal Draft by the Miami Sharks, who confirmed the signing last week. Foley joins another Irish ex-Arrow Shane O’Leary in Florida, although the two never represented Toronto together. Foley has scored 8 tries in his 45 MLR games to date (39 starts) between Toronto (2021-2022), Seattle (2023), and Dallas (2024), running for over 2,250m gained and completing just under 500 tackles.

New Additions

After the San Diego Legion were the busiest team for much of the start of November, the title of busiest team stays in California but moves up the I-5 to Los Angeles, as Rugby FC LA announced a trio of new signings to go along with their three returnees and the addition of Christian Dyer. 23yo English hooker Ben Sugars joins the team from the NSW Waratahs in Super Rugby, where he was playing as injury cover after helping the Randwick Galloping Green to a Shute Shield title in 2023 under RFCLA’s new Director of Rugby, Stephen Hoiles. This will be Sugars’ first full-time professional rugby contract. LA also announced the addition of veteran Argentinian international scrum-half Gonzalo Bertranou, who has represented Los Pumas at the 2019 & 2023 Rugby World Cups, earning over 60 test caps to date. Bertranou joins from Cardiff Rugby in the URC, having represented the Jaguares for their entire Super Rugby tenure, as well as Benetton and the Dragons, also in the URC. In addition to Ben Sugars, RFCLA DoR Stephen Hoiles has brought in back row and former Australia Sevens player Tim Anstee for their sophomore season. Anstee played in 24 tournaments for the Aussie Sevens side between 2016-2020, during which time he worked with Hoiles. Following his time with the Sevens team he signed with Western Force, playing in 45 games between 2021-2024, also playing with Eastwood in the Shute Shield, where he caught the eye of RFCLA Assistant Coach and 2021 MLR Champion, Dave Dennis.

Heading over to the Eastern Conference and the addition of another Australian to MLR, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of Sydney native Mitch Short for their 2025 campaign. Short, a scrum-half, represented Randwick in the Shute Shield between 2015-2017. He played in Super Rugby with the Western Force (2017) and the Waratahs (2018-2020), before heading to the French Top 14 to play with Racing 92. Following a season with Racing, Short moved to the Pro D2 to play with Beziers between 2022-2024, and now heads to SeatGeek for 2025!

Staying in the Eastern Conference, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of a pair of new faces, including a Capped Canadian international for their 2025 season. Nova Scotian prop Tyler Matchem joins from Canada’s high performance development academy, the Pacific Pride. Matchem represented the Canada U20s in 2022 and the Canada Selects in a pre-season clash with the Seattle Seawolves in February 2024. He earned his test debut as #510 against Tonga in the 2024 PNC, and joins fellow Canadian internationals Cooper Coats and Kaden Duguid in New Orleans. Additionally, the Gold announced the signing of another French veteran in the form of winger Xavier Mignot. Capped once for France in 2016, Mignot played with his local team, CS Bourgoin-Jallieu, in the French Pro D2 for the 2013/14 season, before signing with Grenoble and representing them in the Top 14 between 2014-2017. Mignot moved to Lyon in 2017 to play with LOU, earning over 120 appearances in France’s top flight with LOU alone, scoring 30 tries across the Top 14, Challenge Cup, and Champions Cup. Mignot joins his compatriot Kélian Galletier in New Orleans.

Thus concludes another busy week of activity around Major League Rugby! With Rugby FC LA‘s announcements in full swing and Old Glory DC getting started on their own, expect it to be another busy week around the league. Maybe we’ll even hear something from Anthem RC, who have been eerily quite for the last month. NARDB helps to keep fans informed with all the movement around MLR, as well as posting the most interesting and informative stats about Major League Rugby!

Be sure to follow NARDB across social media to see player moves as they happen, as well as to see the summary graphics, and support the site. Find us on Instagram/Threads @MLRStats, Twitter/X at either @NARugbyDB or @JamDelay, and on Bluesky at @NARDB or @JamDelay! If you’re looking for some rugby-related Christmas shopping, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRStats’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Movement Summary: November 18-24, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Although it may seem like the player signings are beginning to slow down, that doesn’t mean that teams aren’t busy! This is a summary of all the player moves around Major League Rugby from last week, November 18-24, 2024. This article dives into a little more detail around each move, and is the best place to stay up to date on the off-season movement from MLR. As always, here is a graphic summarising the first page of moves:

Player Moves Summary: November 18-24, 2024 (1 of 2)
Re-signings and Retirements

Starting (as usual) with the re-signings, of which there were 11 across 4 teams last week. The reigning Champion New England Free Jacks announced another quartet of returnees for next season, ensuring that the 2025 Free Jacks will look very similar to the 2024 squad. Fijian try-machine Paula Balekana returns for a 4th season with the Free Jacks, and 5th in MLR. Balekana currently sits T-4th all-time for tries scored, level with Chicago Hounds’ Julian Dominguez on 31. He hs almost guaranteed to move ahead of 3rd placed Mikey Te’o next season following Te’o’s retirement, but how close will he get to Seattle’s Riekert Hattingh in 2nd place, currently on 42. Also returning for New England are Canadian MLR veterans Conor Keys and Cole Keith. 6’6 Ontario lock Keys has earned 65 MLR appearances (41 starts) between Rugby ATL (2020-2022) and the Free Jacks (2023-2024), appearing in 3 MLR Championship games (2021, 2023, 2024). New Brunswick native Cole Keith has made 74 MLR appearances (46 starts) since 2019, playing with the Toronto Arrows (2019-2022) before joining the Free Jacks. Finally, a third Canadian international Ethan Fryer is returning. Fryer has 13 appearances for New England since 2022, including 10 in 2024 where he set career highs in starts (4), Meters Gained (235m), and Tackles Made (46).

The Houston SaberCats announced four returnees of their own last week, all of whom are MLR veterans. Forward-turned-centre Dom Akina is back for a 3rd season with Houston. He has 10 tries in 52 games (37 starts) since 2020, scoring 7 of these and gaining 1,422 of his 2,391m gained in two seasons with the SaberCats. A pair of South African forwards are also back, in Marno Redelinghuys and Justin Basson. Both Redelinghuys & Basson are former Rugby ATL players, although not at the same time. Basson played with the RATLers between 2022-2023 before moving to Houston. He’s averaged 2 tries a season for 6 tries in 42 games (38 starts), and passed 150 tackles for the first time in 2024 (151). Marno Redelinghuys played with ATL between 2020-2021 and returns for a 4th season with Houston in 2025. He has over 500 tackles in 53 games (48 starts). Redelinghuys will be deemed a domestic player for 2025, freeing up a valuable international player slot for the SaberCats. Finally for Houston, newly capped USA Eagle #576 Pono Davis returns for Houston. Davis has 40 appearances across 3 seasons with the SaberCats, and earned a career high 4 starts in 2024, completing 127 tackles (also a career high, by 52!).

The Miami Sharks continue to sprinkle a few re-signings into the mix, confirming the return of former Welsh international Kirby Myhill, and newly capped USA Eagle Tomas Casares. Hooker Myhill scored a try in his 7 games (6 starts) during the Sharks’ inaugural season, gaining over 220m. Casares scored 2 tries in 8 games (6 starts) in 2024, including a game-winner against the team that drafted him 17th overall in 2022, the New England Free Jacks. Casares earned his test debut as USA Eagle #583 just a few weeks ago when he came off the bench in a hard-fought 21-17 victory over Portugal. Finally for re-signings, the San Diego Legion announced the return of US-eligible Fijian forward Cyrille Cama for 2025. a MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis in 2021, Cama set career highs across the board for San Diego in 2024, with 3 tries in 16 games (2 starts), racking up 289m gained and completing 60 tackles. As one Legion player returns, another hangs up their boots. MLR Veteran and USA Eagle #564 Chris Mattina announced his retirement on instagram after 6 seasons in MLR. Mattina scored 6 tries and 120pts in 56 games (43 starts) between Rugby New York (2019-2021), the Austin Gilgronis (2022), Chicago Hounds (2023), finishing his career with the San Diego Legion (2024).

Intra-League Moves

Last week saw five players move to new teams within Major League Rugby, including a trio of Dallas Jackals following the withdrawal of the team from MLR in September. 2024 All-MLR Second XV scrum-half Juan-Dee Oliver signs with the Houston SaberCats after the team selected him 30th, the final player selected. Oliver scored 5 tries and 55pts in 13 games (all starts) for the Jackals in 2024, and was a standout when Dallas stunned the SaberCats in the Western Conference Semifinals. Also selected in the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft was Argentinian fly-half Martin Elias. Selected 25th and signed by the Miami Sharks, Elias was the Jackals’ all-time top scorer with 1 try and 116pts in 23 games (all starts) since 2023, and will fit in nicely with the Sharks’ strong South American influence. The Miami Sharks didn’t stop with Elias, however. The Florida team also announced the signing of Argentinian centre Tomás Cubilla, who was not selected in the dispersal draft, instead signing as a Free Agent. Cubilla has earned 11 MLR appearances for the Dallas Jackals since 2023, including 8 in 2024 where he scored all 5 of his MLR tries to date and amassed over 600m gained.

The NOLA Gold had a case of revolving doors last week. The Louisiana team announced the signing of Irish born USA Eagle #537 Luke Carty from the Chicago Hounds. A 2021 MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis, Carty has scored 1 try and 177pts in 45 games (31 starts) since 2021, representing the Giltinis until 2022, before being selected in the dispersal draft by the Chicago Hounds. Following the departure of Rodney Iona, Carty will fill that gap nicely. On the subject of Rodney Iona, just as the Gold were welcoming Luke Carty to the team, the Seattle Seawolves announced the signing of Iona’s NOLA & Samoa teammate OJ Noa for their 2025 squad. Noa scored 1 try in 9 games (all starts) for the Gold in 2024, running for over 520m gained.

New Faces

To wrap things up, two teams announced new signings from further afield than Major League Rugby. Also signed by the NOLA Gold for 2025 is 29yo Kiwi centre Isaac Te Tamaki who joins from the Southland Stags in New Zealand’s National Provinicial Championship. A capped former All Blacks Sevens player, Te Tamaki has played with Southland since 2018 with a season in France with Valence Romans Drôme in 2023. He earned his 50th Southland appearance in 2024, where he played alongside a number of familiar MLR names including Nic Souchon, Michael Manson, and Shneil Singh. Staying in the Southern Hemisphere, the final move of the week saw the Seattle Seawolves announce the signing of South African prop Njabulo Gumede. Gumede came up in the Blue Bulls system, also playing for Valke and the Pumas in the Currie Cup before joining the Griquas for 2024. A former Junior Springbok, Gumede will link up with former Pumas teammate Malembe Mpofu in Seattle.

Thus concludes a far more digestable summary when compared to the last few weeks. It seems that the ‘first wave’ of teams (Free Jacks, Legion, SaberCats, etc.) are coming to the end of their announcements, but with Rugby FC LA starting their announcements on November 25th, and both Old Glory DC & Anthem RC staying quiet, the ‘second wave’ could start any moment. This doesn’t even include the teams going steady with announcements like the NOLA Gold, Utah Warriors, and Miami Sharks!

A reminder that NARugbydb.com is the only place to find weekly movement summaries this off-season, providing a easy way to stay up to date with all the movement of the Major League Rugby off-season. Be sure to follow James and NARDB on Social Media, @MLRStats on Instagram & Threads, @JamDelay and/or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @JamDelay & @NARDB on Bluesky. Also make sure to check out the Youtube Channel, NARStats!

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MLR Player Move Summary: November 11-17, 2024

NARDatabase

James Deeley

Could Player announcements be starting to slow down as we plod towards US Thanksgiving? for the first time in three weeks the Player Move summary is “only” two pages, and with the San Diego Legion seemingly finished their roster announcement, the tide may be starting to let up! As with every week, this article will provide more context and detail around all of last week’s moves, helping MLR fans to stay on top of the latest signings from their team and from around the league. As always, here is the first page of this week’s summary:

Summary of MLR Player Moves: November 11-17, 2024 (1 of 2)

In total last week, there were 19 re-signings from 5 different teams, 4 inter-league moves, 4 new signings, 2 departures and a trade. Just like in past summaries, we’ll start with the re-signings which make up the bulk of last week’s announcements.

Re-Signings

The San Diego Legion, who have been announcing their entire roster from November 1st to 15th, completed their announcements with another 6 returnees from last years’ squad. Wingers James Vaifale, Ryan James, and Tomas Aoake all return, as do centres Marcel Brache & Tiaan Loots, as well as utility back Ethan Grayson. Vaifale has 32 MLR caps since 2020, but only earned 3 appearances for the Legion in 2024, starting twice and scoring 2 tries, however. A 2021 MLR Champion with the LA Giltinis, Ryan James earned half of his career MLR starts for the Legion last season, also setting career highs in Meters Gained (821m) and tackles made (83). Tomas Aoake returns for the 2nd year of a 3yr deal that will see him stay with the Legion through 2026, and has scored 18 tries in 37 games (all starts). He passed 250 career tackles and 2,500m gained in 2024. Moving to the centre, veteran MLR-er Marcel Brache, who turned 37 in October, will return for a 4th season in the league and 3rd with San Diego. Brache has scored 5 tries in 41 games (39 starts) since his first season with the Austin Gilgronis in 2022. He passed 250 tackles and 2,000m gained in 2024. Tiaan Loots is also back for his 5th season with the Legion, having scored 14 tries in his 41 games (37 starts) since 2020, amassing over 3,200m gained and over 360 tackles. Englishman Ethan Grayson, the son of Rugby World Cup winner Paul Grayson, returns for a 2nd season with the Legion. Grayson can play across the back line and is currently playing in the 10 shirt for the Newcastle Falcons in the Premiership. He scored 2 tries in 9 games (6 starts) for the Legion in 2024.

Moving east from the coast of California to the mountains of Utah, the Warriors announced another 4 familiar faces returning for their 2025 campaign. The 4 forwards are Warriors veterans Saia ‘Uhila, Bailey Wilson, Angus MacLellan, and Matt Jensen. Two of these, MacLellan and ‘Uhila, have represented the Warriors since 2018 and are returning for their eighth seasons in 2025. They’re two of the most capped players in league history, ‘Uhila with 82 appearances (54 starts), scoring 7 tries and completing over 500 tackles, and MacLellan with 92 appearances, tied for 3rd all-time with Seattle scrum-half JP Smith. MacLellan also has over 500 tackles completed and 58 starts, with his 3 tries all coming before 2020. The other returners announced last week, Matt Jensen and Club Captain Bailey Wilson, both return for a 5th season with the Warriors. Wilson has represented the Warriors continuously since 2020, scoring 7 tries in his 66 games (57 starts), amassing just over 2000m gained and completing a huge 660 tackles. Jensen played with the Warriors between 2018-2021 before stepping away, returning in 2024. He’s earned 54 appearances (50 starts), scoring 4 tries. He will likely pass 500 tackles made in 2025.

Continuing our journey east into Texas, the Houston SaberCats also announced 4 returning players from their 14-2 2024 season. Stand-out scrumhalf André Warner is back after being the only SaberCat named to the 2024 All-MLR First XV, scoring 8 tries in 15 games and completing almost 120 tackles (as a scrumhalf!). Points machine AJ Alatimu returns for a 2nd season in Houston after 3 in Seattle. Alatimu hasn’t scored a try, but has 406pts in his 56 games (52 starts) since 2021 and is currently MLR’s 3rd highest scorer all-time but will likely move to 2nd in 2025, passing Legion legend Joe Pietersen on 420pts. A SaberCats stand out in the pack will also return in the form of Ronan Murphy, the former American Raptor has 20 MLR appearances since 2022 and appeared in all 17 games for Houston in 2024, starting 15 times, scoring 6 tries and completing a huge 172 tackles. Murphy was unlucky to miss out on a Eagles call up for their 2024 tours, and is surely a lock for an international debut if he has another season like 2024. Finally for the Texas team, English centre Sam Hill is back after earning 8 appearances (all starts) in his debut MLR season.

Summary of MLR Player Moves: November 11-17, 2024 (2 of 2)

Reaching the east coast, the Miami Sharks keep sprinkling in re-signing announcements, confirming the return of prop Reinaldo Piussi and fly-half/fullback Shane O’Leary. At 6’4 and over 280lbs, Uruguayan international Piussi is a formidable presence in the Sharks scrum, scoring 1 try in his 8 appearances (7 starts) during Miami’s inaugural season. Canada-capped Irishman Shane O’Leary has 63pts in MLR since 2023, scoring his only MLR try for the Sharks, earning 5 appearances (all starts).

Finishing our cross-country journey by moving up the east coast to Boston, the New England Free Jacks announced another trio of returnees from their 2024 Championship squad, including a loanee to the Miami Sharks. Tongan prop Tevita Sole has earned 25 MLR caps since 2022 (7 starts), spending 2022-2023 with the Free Jacks before being loaned to the Sharks for the 2024 season, where he earned 6 appearances. He returned to the Free Jacks for the playoffs and came off the bench in the 2024 Championship game, his only appearance for New England in 2024. Also returning in red, white, and blue is Canadian eligible back row Piers von Dadelszen who scored 2 tries in 17 games (11 starts) and completed over 120 tackles, starting all 3 Free Jacks playoff games in 2024, and Fijian/English scrumhalf Cam Nordli-Kelemeti who started 8 of his 14 games for New England in 2024.

Intra-League Moves & New Signings

There’s a steady trickle of Dallas Jackals players finding new homes for 2025, which is excellent to see. The Houston SaberCats confirmed the signing of fearsome runner Sam Tuifua after selecting him 8th. Tuifua scored 6 tries in 10 games (all starts), racking up over 950m gained in possession. The busiest team for the 2nd week in a row was the San Diego Legion, who announced the first of two blockbusters early last week when they signed MLR Draftee and USA Eagle #543, Tavite Lopeti. Lopeti was drafted 3rd overall by the Seawolves out of St. Mary’s College in 2021 and was named as MLR’s Rookie of the Year for the 2022 season. Lopeti has scored 8 tries in 44 games for Seattle (32 starts), completing almost 300 tackles and amassing over 2,100m gained. He and the Seawolves have finished as MLR runners-up twice (2022 & 2024), and although he’s a California native, I’m sure Seattle fans aren’t thrilled that he’s joining their biggest rival. The Legion also announced the addition of US-eligible Welsh fullback/fly-half Steffan Crimp. Crimp, a former Legion U23 player who’s mother was born and raised in San Diego, joined Anthem RC late in 2024, making 4 appearances (3 starts). The second intra-league blockbuster came right at the end of last week, when the NOLA Gold announced the signing of veteran Utah Warriors fullback Caleb Makene for 2025. Makene was a stand-out during his 3 seasons with Utah, scoring 12 tries and 98pts across 44 games (all starts) and averaging over 1,100m gained per season. He was one of the many many departures announced by the Warriors in September, and probably one of the most high-profile players.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

Moving on to new faces entering MLR for the first time, the San Diego Legion announced the signing of Bond University stand-out Rhian Stowers for 2025. the 2024 Slipper Trophy recipient has played almost every format of rugby imaginable, and was a regular on Bond’s 7s team. Additionally, the Legion picked up another former Melbourne Rebel in Australian utility back Nick Jooste. the former Western Force player was a regular in the Rebels’ Super Rugby Lineups, and will join fellow Rebel Brad Wilkin in San Diego. The Legion were not the only team shopping around Super Rugby, however. The reigning Champs announced that Wallabies capped hooker Connal McInerney will join the Free Jacks from the Brumbies, where he won a Super Rugby AU title in 2020, and the NOLA Gold announced the signing of NZ-born centre Nikolai Foliaki, joining from the Western Force where he had played since 2023. Foliaki is internationally capped for Tonga, representing them in the 2024 Pacific Nations Cup.

Departures & Trades

On the subject of Super Rugby, the top flight of rugby in Australia & New Zealand began announcing their rosters last week, and both the Utah Warriors and NOLA Gold will be wishing they hadn’t. Both Utah & NOLA lost stand-out players to the Highlanders for their 2025 Super Rugby Season. The Utah Warriors lost Player of the Season candidate Michael Manson, who was named to the Highlanders squad after scoring 14 tries in 12 games for the Warriors in 2024, racking up 1,491m gained. The NOLA Gold lost another prolific try scorer in Taniela Filimone who, although not named to the Highlanders squad, is believed to have been included in the wider training squad. Filimone amassed 1,071m gained in possession, scoring 11 tries in 17 games (all starts) for the Gold. Both Manson & Filimone were under contract for the 2025 season, so this is a definite both to both teams and fanbases.

Finishing up with the only trade of the week, on November 13th the Houston SaberCats acquired Brazilian international prop and 2022 MLR Champion Wilton Rebolo from Rugby FC LA in exchange for their 1st Rd Draft Pick in 2025. This is a valuable pick to give away but Rebolo is a quality player. He is the first Brazilian to play in MLR and, when he joined the Western Force for their 2023 season, became the first Brazilian to sign for a Super Rugby team. Rebolo earned 27 appearances for New York between 2021-2022, including a high of 15 in their Shield-winning 2022 season, and made 7 appearances for RFCLA in their inaugural season in 2024. As mentioned, a first round pick is a valuable asset to trade away, but if the SaberCats are looking to win now, then at the very least this pick will be lower in the first round, Houston will be hoping 11th. RFCLA now have two first round picks in 2025, so depending on their exact position, we could see one (or both) of these moving as the draft approaches in August.

Source: MLR Trade Wire

That concludes this week’s summary of last week’s player moves around MLR. The purpose of these articles are to add context and some more detail to all the movement around Major League Rugby, allowing fans to stay up to date with every player signing in one easy-to-digest article. These articles are released every Monday along with posts on all of NARDB Social Media. Please visit @MLRStats on Instagram or Threads, or either @JamDelay or @NARugbyDB on Twitter/x and Bluesky.

As we’re edging closer to the holidays, remember to visit shopmlr.com and pick up some swag in the end-of-season sales, and remember to use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Move Summary: November 4-10, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

For the 2nd week in a row, three pages are required for the graphic to summarise all the moves around MLR from last week! In total there were TWENTY-SIX re-signings around the league, 10 completely new signings from outside MLR, four players returning to MLR after some time playing elsewhere, and 3 inter-league moves. This article will go into more detail on all the activity from last week, allowing you to stay up to date on all the goings on ahead of the 2025 season! As always, we start with the first page of our summary, and jump into the returning players:

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 4-10, 2024 (1 of 3)
Relentless Re-Signings

As mentioned in the introduction, Six MLR teams announced the return of 26 players from their 2024 rosters who will return for 2025, including NINE for the San Diego Legion alone. The Legion appear to be announcing their entire roster between November 1st to 15th, and announced all their locks, back rows, scrum-halves, and fly-halves last week! We will get into the new additions for the Legion later in the article, but returning to the Legion in the second row are Charlie Hewitt and Brandon Harvey. MLR veteran Hewitt, a Champion with New York in 2022, has 68 caps and 34 starts in MLR since 2018, and scored 1 of his 3 tries in 2024, earning 3 starts and 11 appearances in his first year with the Legion. Brandon Harvey earned his MLR debut in 2024, making 3 starts in 5 games for the Legion and running for over 100m gained in possession. Also announced as returning for San Diego were Jay Tuivaiti and Vili Helu, who can both play on the flank. Tuivaiti scored 2 tries in 8 games (all starts) for the Legion in his debut MLR season in 2024, and Helu appeared in all 17 Legion games (12 starts) and has 61 MLR appearances since 2020, closing in on 1,500m gained and 500 tackles made in his MLR career. Capped USA Eagle Paddy Ryan will return to the Legion back row along with Australian veteran Christian Poidevin. Ryan was a late addition in 2024, earning 2 starts and 7 appearances for the Legion after joining from the English Champinoship, and 2021 MLR Champion Christian Poidevin returns for his 5th MLR season and 3rd with the Legion after an injury-affected 2024 . Poidevin has 10 tries in 45 MLR appearances (40 starts) since 2021, including 6 tries in 17 games for the San Diego Legion over the last two seasons.

Moving away from the pack to the Legion’s half backs, Connor Tupai will return in the 9 jersey for San Diego after scoring 5 tries in 15 games (14 starts) in 2024, completing over 120 tackles on defence. Wallabies legend Matt Giteau will not be returning for the Legion in 2025 after re-announcing his retirement, but Lincoln McClutchie and Harris Rutherford are returning. McClutchie was the Legion’s starting 10 for much of the first half of the season last year, finishing 6th in MLR scoring with 2 tries and 81pts in 12 games (8 starts). US-eligible Scottish fly-half Harris Rutherford didn’t get many minutes in 2024 as the Legion’s 4th 10 behind McClutchie, Giteau, and Josh Henderson, but still earned 3 MLR appearances, scoring 14pts and earning a Team of the Week selection in Round 17. That just about does it for the Legion’s returning players announced last week, and we’ll see the returning back line players in next week’s summary!

It’s not quite the 9 re-signings of the Legion, but the Houston SaberCats were also busy with 5 re-signings of their own. Recording a MLR-best 14-2 regular season in 2024, the SaberCats fell short in the playoffs and will be looking to take it a few steps further in 2025. Fly-half/fullback Davy Coetzer will return for a 4th season with Houston after signing a long-term contract through 2027. Coetzer has scored 16 tries and 291pts in 42 MLR games (all starts) for the SaberCats, and is MLR’s 9th highest points scorer of all-time. Joining Coetzer in the back line will be former Toronto Arrow Tautalatasi Tasi. Tasi has 4 tries in 20 MLR games since 2023 including 2 in 10 games (all starts) for the SaberCats in 2024. Also returning is 2024 Co-Captain Nathan den Hoedt, a 2021 MLR Champion with LA has 56 appearances under his belt including 24 with Houston since 2023. As well as den Hoedt, the SaberCats pack will see the return of lock/back row Johan Momsen and front row Pita Anae-Ah Sue. Momsen, MLR’s Forward of the Year in 2021, has just under 750 tackles made in his 66 games in MLR, scoring 13 tries including 1 in his 13 games (12 starts) in his first season with the SaberCats in 2024. Anae-Ah Sue is also returning for his 2nd season with Houston in 2025 after he scored 4 tries in 13 games (all starts) in their very strong 2024 season.

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 4-10, 2024 (2 of 3)

Staying in the Western Conference, the Utah Warriors continue to announce their returnees following the exodus of a few weeks ago, confirming that 4 Warriors veterans will be returning. Fan favourite centre Paul Lasike will return for a 5th season with Utah in 2025 after earning a career high 11 appearances (all starts) in 2024, and setting a career high in tackles with an even 100. Fellow long-time Warrior Emerson Prior will return for a 4th season after the Canadian prop was drafted 37th overall by Utah in 2021. Prior has 32 MLR appearances (16 starts) since 2022 and set career highs in both meters gained and tackles made in 2024. Also returning for a 4th season with Utah will be US-eligible kiwi scrum-half Zion Going, who has 4 tries in 34 games (16 starts) for the Warriors since 2022 and is another player who set career highs in meters gained and tackles in 2024. In fact, Going started more games in 2024 (9) than he had in the previous two seasons combined (4+3=7). Finally, promising Utah local Tomasi Tonga is back once again. Tonga has 3 tries in 18 games (7 starts) for the Warriors since 2022 but had limited game-time in 2024 with just the 1 game. He’ll no doubt be hoping to get those numbers back up in 2025.

The final returnee in the Western Conference is capped Canadian international hooker Jesse Mackail, who will return to the Seattle Seawolves for 2025. Mackail did not feature for the Seawolves in 2024, but spent the pre-season with Seattle before having to return to Canada.

Still on the many, MANY re-signings announced last week but moving over to the Eastern Conference, the Miami Sharks announced a trio of returnees including Captain Tomás Cubelli. Cubelli was the first player ever announced by the Sharks, and the Los Pumas veteran appeared in 11 games (10 starts) for the Sharks in their inaugural season. Along with Cubelli, the Sharks announced the return of a pair of capped Uruguayan internationals in Tomás Inciarte and Manu Ardao. Centre/scrum-half Inciarte scored 3 tries in 15 games (all starts) for the Sharks, completing just shy of 150 tackles on defence, and back row Ardao scored 5 tries in his 12 games (also all starts), carrying for well over 550m gained with ball in hand.

Finally, the reigning Champions announced the return of four depth pieces for their title defence. Kiwi prop Malakai Hala-Ngatai was a regular for the Free Jacks in 2024, scoring 3 tries in 15 games (7 starts) and carrying for over 200m gained as a front row. New England announced the return of a pair of veterans in Isaac Olson and Foster DeWitt, both test capped for Canada. Isaac Olson has earned 13 appearances (1 start, 1 try) for the Free Jacks since 2022, and Foster DeWitt has 3 tries and 9 starts in 35 games in the same timespan. Both Olson and DeWitt return for their 4th MLR seasons with the Free Jacks in 2025. Last but not least, Boston born Irish wing/centre Killian Coghlan also returns after earning 4 MLR appearances off the bench in 2024.

Source: @NEFreejacks on Instagram
New Names Entering MLR

Now that the heaps of re-signings are out of the way, we can move on to the new players joining MLR teams for the first time and will make their Major League Rugby debut in 2025. Another pair of Canada Sevens players step back from the national program and will enter MLR next season, following Brock Webster and Josiah Morra last week. Back row Matt Oworu will link up with a number of Canadians in Chicago with the Hounds. Born in Canada but raised in Zimbabwe, Oworu has been capped for both the 7s and 15s national sides, most recently starting at 12 for Canada’s November test against Chile in Romania. Also entering MLR from the national program is Cooper Coats, who played for the Ontario Arrows in their exhibition season in 2018 before entering MLR as the Toronto Arrows in 2019. Coats will join fellow Canadians Callum Botchar and Kaden Duguid with the NOLA Gold, and is also capped for Canada at both 7s and 15s level, most recently coming off the bench for Canada’s test against Chile, the same game that Oworu started.

On top of their 9 re-signings covered earlier in this article, the San Diego Legion announced the addition of 4 new faces for their 2025 roster. Waratahs veteran and capped Wallaby Jed Holloway heads to California, having made his test debut against Argentina in 2022 as Wallaby #955, and can play lock or loose forward. Holloway will be joined by fellow Australian flanker Brad Wilkin, a former Wallabies U20 player who played alongside Holloway at the Waratahs between 2017-2018. Wilkin joins the Legion following the demise of the Melbourne Rebels. The Legion back row is going to be packed with Australians, as the team announced the addition of promising young prop Jimmy Hokafonu from Eastwood in the Shute Shield, and finally the addition of capped Samoan prop Brook To’omalatai, a late blooming prop who caught the eyes of the Legion during the 2024 PNC, where he played on the Samoan side that defeated the USA in the 3rd place playoff.

MLR Player Moves Summary: November 4-10, 2024 (3 of 3)

Along with Matt Oworu from the Canadian sevens program, the Chicago Hounds announced the signing of fellow Canadian Noah Flesch. The younger brother of current Hound Mason Flesch, Noah joins from the Pacific Pride, Canada’s high performance pathway, and earned his full test debut over the weekend as Canada faced Chile in Romania. Another young talent joining the Hounds for 2025 is Australian utility back Ben Pollack, an Australia U19 & U20 player who enters MLR from Gordon in the Shute Shield, earning his 50th first grade appearance for the Highlanders in 2024. Finally for the Hounds, a veteran Scottish lock joins their pack in Hamish Bain, who played under former Hounds Head Coach Rob Webber for the Jersey Reds during their dominant 2022/23 Championship Season. Bain, a former Glasgow Warrior, joins from Vannes in the French Pro D2.

Finally for new faces joining MLR for 2025 is long-time Sharks hooker Kerron van Vuuren, who will enter the Seattle Seawolves front row after representing the Sharks Currie Cup side, and progressing to represent the senior team in both Super Rugby and the URC, and helping them to their first Challenge Cup title in 2024.

Source: @chicagohoundsrugby
Familiar Faces, Inter-League Signings, and Other News

Unusually for Major League Rugby, last week saw teams announce the return of 4 players who had played in MLR prior to last season, but played elsewhere in 2024. This includes a pair of familiar faces for the San Diego Legion, who were by far the busiest team last week. Both returnees come from their record-breaking 15-1 season in 2023 where they finished as runners-up. 2023 All-MLR First XV scrum-half Richard Judd returns after spending 2024 with the Hurricanes in Super Rugby, and Kiwi hooker Shilo Klein also returns having spent 2024 between the Blues in Super Rugby, and North Harbour in the NPC. Judd earned an MLR-high 6 Team of the Week selections in 2023, tied with then-Legion teammate Nate Augspurger, and scored 7 tries in 14 games (all starts). Klein added another 2 tries in 15 games (4 starts), and racked up over 300m gained in possession. The return of Judd and Klein will be a huge boon for the Legion in 2025.

The New England Free Jacks also have the benefit of a familiar face returning in Joe ‘The Mechanic’ Johnston to add to their already deep back row. a 2023 Champion with New England, Johnston earned 48 MLR caps for the Free Jacks between 2021-2023, starting 37 times and scoring 8 tries while completing over 575 tackles. He returned to New Zealand to finish his education in 2024, and played with Bay of Plenty in the NPC. Unlike the 3 familiar faces just mentioned, the final returnee joins a different team to the one he previously played with in MLR. Tongan born, Hawaii raised prop Ma’ake Muti featured in 6 games for the LA Giltinis in their Shield-winning 2021 season, before joining the American Raptors and spending a couple of seasons playing in Super Rugby Americas. For 2025, Muti joins the Miami Sharks. This may be following the announcement that the Raptors would not be playing pro rugby in 2025.

Onto the inter-league signings. Seeing new players from flashy overseas leagues is without a doubt exciting, but to have players moving between MLR teams and generating these ‘organic’ moves, helps to build rivalries between fanbases and is great news for the league. Firstly, we learned of the desitination of another ex-Dallas Jackals player in Dewald Kotze, the capped Canadian hooker signing with the Seattle Seawolves for 2025. Kotze scored 14 tries in 35 games (29 starts) across 3 seasons with the Jackals, including 11 in 17 games in 2024 that featured a MLR record FIVE-TRY performance against the Seawolves, who selected him 10th overall in the Dispersal Draft for Jackals players. The Seawolves’ signing of Kotze may explain why USA Eagle hooker Joe Taufete’e is moving on from Seattle, instead signing with the NOLA Gold who are putting together an exciting looking team for 2025. The Gold will be the 4th different team in as many seasons for the 2021 MLR Champion Taufete’e, who is Eagle #466.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

And finally, to finish off this weeks summary article we have yet more news from the San Diego Legion. The California club announced the return of 2023 draftee James Rivers for 2025. English born Rivers was selected 10th overall by the Legion and spent 2024 on loan with Anthem RC, making over 130 tackles in 13 games (11 starts) during their inaugural season. On the topic of Legion draftees, San Diego also confirmed the signing of 2024 7th overall pick Inoke Waqavesi for 2025, drafted out of Saint Mary’s College where he played alongside 1st overall pick Erich Storti, Waqavesi can play across the back line. The Legion also confirmed the signing of academy product Aidan Konja out of SDSU as a homegrown player, and he will continue to develop in the Legion system in 2025.

That, finally, is the end of NARDB’s summary of all of the moves around Major League Rugby for the week of November 4-10, 2024. Feel free to share or quote this article but please do credit NARDB, and we look forward to seeing just how busy this week will be for player moves. Summaries articles and graphics are posted every monday on this site and across social media. be sure to follow @Jamdelay/@NARugbyDB on Twitter/X, and @MLRStats on Instagram & Threads.

MLR Player Moves Summary: October 28 – November 3, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

Another week deeper into the off-season, and it was busiest week so far in terms of player movement around Major League Rugby! This is your weekly player movement breakdown for last week, October 28th to November 3rd and for the first time this off-season, we have a three page summary to go through! Be sure to check the MLRStats instagram for the full summary. This article will dive deeper into last week’s moves and it’s going to be a long one, so buckle up! As always, the first page of the summary is below:

Player Move Summary: October 28-November 3, 2024 (1 of 3)
Trade Wire Playing Catch-Up

On October 30th, the MLR Trade Wire updated to reveal FIVE trades that dated back to October 9th, three whole weeks prior to the trade being made public. The MLR Trade Wire is an excellent piece of transparency between the league and fans but unfortunately, between it being notoriously slow to update and little inaccuracies, it seems MLR don’t value it as much as fans do. As mentioned, although these trades date all the way back to October 9th, they only became public knowledge on October 30th, hence their inclusion on this week’s summary.

These trades revealed the destinations for a number of Dallas Jackals players following the dispersal draft, starting with the acquisition on October 9th of US-eligible Argentinian front row Tomás Bekerman by the Miami Sharks in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown) to Anthem RC. Bekerman scored 5 tries in 14 games (2 starts) for the Dallas Jackals in 2024, before being selected 12th in the dispersal draft following the Jackals’ withdrawal from MLR. Given the strong South American influence in the Miami squad and staff, this move makes a lot of sense. Two days later on October 11th, the Houston SaberCats acquired Californian lock Javon Camp-Villalovos from the NOLA Gold in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown), after he was selected 17th in the dispersal draft. A third former Jackal was also included in a trade, as it was revealed that the New England Free Jacks had acquired Canadian prop Kyle Steeves, also from the NOLA Gold in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). The NOLA Gold had selected Steeves 6th in the dispersal draft and although the trade is dated October 13th, the Trade Wire didn’t update until October 30th, and the Free Jacks had already announced the signing of Steeves on October 17th, and he was included in the Player Moves Summary that week.

On top of trading their dispersal draft picks for Cap Space, the NOLA Gold acquired Tongan back row Tupou Ma’afu Afungia from the San Diego Legion in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). Afungia scored 5 tries in 25 games (22 starts) for the Legion since 2023, and set a career high for meters gained in 2024, with 692m. Also on the move is Samoan prop Fred Apulu, who earned 14 of his 19 MLR appearances for the Chicago Hounds in 2024, earning his first career start. Apulu is headed to the Utah Warriors after they acquired him in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). The Warriors weren’t finished shopping there, though. The final trade in this week’s summary saw them acquire Gabe Casey from the New England Free Jacks in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Considerations (unknown). Casey was the first player in MLR history to be drafted twice, by the Toronto Arrows in 2022 and the Free Jacks in 2023, and earned his league debut off the bench last season. The MLR Trade Wire shows the date of this transaction as October 31st, but given that the Utah Warriors announced Casey’s signing on October 28th, this is clearly wrong.

Player Move Summary: October 28-November 3, 2024 (2 of 3)
Re-Signings: Free Jacks, Sharks & Legion Announce Returnees

The New England Free Jacks and Miami Sharks continue to announce returnees from their 2024 squads, and with the San Diego Legion beginning to announce their 2025 roster, we have a dozen players returning to their 2024 teams for the 2025 campaign.

The Miami Sharks announced the return of 2023 1st overall pick Rick Rose, and capped Canadian international center Guiseppe du Toit for their sophomore season in 2025. Both Rose and du Toit appeared in all 16 games for the Sharks in their inaugural season, starting 12 games & 6 games respectively, with Rose completing 117 tackles and du Toit carrying for over 260m gained in possession. The New England Free Jacks announced another quartet of returnees from their 2024 Shield-winning squad, including 2024 MLR Player of the Year Wayne van der Bank and 2022 MLR Champion Kaleb Geiger. Van der Bank gained over 1,300m in possession during 2024, scoring 10 tries in 17 games (16 starts) for the Free Jacks while completing 187 tackles on defence. Geiger added a try and almost 100 tackles in 14 games (1 start) in his first season in Quincy. Also announced as returning by the reigning champions were Oscar Lennon, who appeared in more playoff games for the Free Jacks in 2024 (3) than regular season games (2), and Jackson Thiebes, a Free Jacks original who has earned 27 MLR appearances for New England (22 starts) since 2020. Thiebes played between 2020-2021, before taking a couple of years out and returning for 2024.

The remaining returnees are all members of the San Diego Legion, who began announcing their 2025 roster on November 1st and look like they will be announcing 2-4 players every day between the 1st and the 15th of November (see below). The Legion announced the return of SIX front row players last week, starting with Nate Sylvia, a MLR veteran who has earned 76 appearances (33 starts) over 7 seasons with the Legion, scoring 4 tries total and completing well over 500 tackles. Next came Djustice Sears-Duru, a 64-time capped Canadian prop and 2019 MLR Champion who has earned 57 appearanced to date including 20 for San Diego (4 starts, 1 try) since 2023. Third was Payton Telea-Ilalio, a Californian prop who enjoyed a break-out year in 2024, earning 14 appearances (10 starts) and recording almost 300m gained in possession as a front row. Also returning is Australian hooker Hugh Roach, one of only 21 players in MLR history to reach 20 tries scored in the competition, doing so in 41 games (36 starts) since 2021, including 3 tries in 12 games for the Legion in 2024. Roach’s compatriot Darcy Breen also returns for his 2nd MLR season in 2025, having gained 298m in 16 games (7 starts) for San Diego in 2024, completing over 70 tackles. Finally, 2022 MLR Collegiate Draftee Oli Kane will return for a 3rd season with the Legion in 2025. Kane was selected 21st overall by San Diego out of USD in 2022, and has earned 4 MLR appearances to date. His development will continue under British & Irish Lion Alex Corbisiero.

Source: @sdlegion on Instagram
Inter-League Moves and Familiar Faces

The Utah Warriors were involved in many of the inter-league moves from last week, on both sides. The Warriors announced five new signings including Fred Apulu who was mentioned above. First was Nic Benn, a capped Canadian international raised in Australia, who the Warriors picked 4th in the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft (his 2nd dispersal draft in as many seasons after joining Dallas following the Toronto & NY dispersal draft in 2023). Benn missed much of 2023 due to injury but had a strong 2024 for Dallas, scoring 5 tries in 16 games (15 starts) including two in their nailbiting Western Conference Final defeat to the Seattle Seawolves. The Utah Warriors also announced the signing of Sione Latu, a Utahn flanker and Warriors pathway product who spent the 2024 season with Anthem RC, completing 77 tackles in 13 games (8 starts) during their inaugural season, Latu will return home to Herriman for 2025. A familiar face to LA or NOLA Gold fans, the Utah Warriors also announced the signing of Jordan Trainor, an New Zealand fullback who represented the LA Giltinis (2022) and NOLA Gold (2023), earning 23 MLR appearances (22 starts), scoring 5 tries and 29pts and amassing over 1,800m gained in possession. Trainor spent 2024 with Northland in New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship.

Also involving the Utah Warriors but instead on the leaving side, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of test capped prop Paul Mullen for 2025. A MLR veteran and Eagle #525, Mullen has earned 72 appearances in MLR (49 starts) since 2018, including 57 for the Warriors between 2021-2024. News of Mullen‘s departure was announced by the Warriors on October 2nd. The final inter-league move saw the Chicago Hounds sign USA Eagle Faka’osi Pifeleti from the San Diego Legion. A 2x MLR Runner-up with the Legion (2019 & 2023), 59 of Pifeleti’s 72 MLR appearances came with the Legion between 2018-2021, and again between 2023-2024. It’s not clear whether the Hounds acquired Pifeleti via trade or signed him as a free agent, so keep an eye on that transactions page!

Including Jordan Trainor signing with the Utah Warriors, three players are returning to MLR after a year or two playing elsewhere. The San Diego Legion announced the return of US-eligible hooker Shilo Klein, who scored 2 tries in 15 games (4 starts) for the Legion in their record-breaking 2023 season, before being selected for the Blues wider training squad for the 2024 Super Rugby season. Also returning to MLR is Canadian speedster Brock Webster, who is capped at both 7s and 15s levels for Canada and scored 3 tries in 5 games (all starts) for the Toronto Arrows in 2022 before returning to the Canadian sevens program. The New England Free Jacks added Webster to their already strong Canadian contingent for 2025.

Player Move Summary: October 28-November 3, 2024 (3 of 3)
New Signings and Retirements

On the subject of Canadian Sevens, along with Brock Webster the New England Free Jacks added Josiah Morra for 2025. Morra has played with the Canadian Sevens side since 2016 and is capped for the Canadian 15s. He was included in the Canada squad for the 2024 PNC and their November tests, and also featured for the Ontario Arrows when they defeated New England in the Free Jacks’ first ever match.

Continuing with the Canadian theme, the NOLA Gold announced the signing of towering Alberta lock Kaden Duguid. The 6’8 Duguid, brother of professional players Tyler and Abby, joins the Gold after playing with the Vancouver Highlanders during their 2024 exhibition season, and has played a number of seasons in the French Fédérale 1. Duguid earned his test debut with Canada during the 2024 PNC, and was included in the Canada squad for their November tests.

Heading back to California, the San Diego Legion announced the addition of two new faces to their 2025 roster, hooker Liki Chan-Tung and prop Brook To’omalatai. Hawaiian born Australian Liki Chan-Tung represented the Wallabies at U20 level and joins from the Gungahlin Eagles in the ACTRU Premier Division. 31yo Brook To’omalatai is a late bloomer, playing club rugby for much of his career but he represented the Canterbury NPC side in 2023, and earned his test debut for Samoa in the 2024 PNC against the United States, where he caught the eye of the San Diego Legion.

In addition to acquiring Faka’osi Pifeleti from the Legion, the Chicago Hounds added a trio of new signings for next season, including a pair from the English Premiership. English-born South African fly-half Tim Swiel will join the Hounds from Saracens, having previously represented the likes of Harlequins and Newcastle in the Premiership, the Stormers and Edinburgh in the URC, and the Sharks in Super Rugby, as well as a stint in Japan. As if Swiel wasn’t enough experience, the Hounds also added England-capped utility back Ollie Devoto. Devoto is a 2x Premiership Champion and Champions Cup winner with the Exeter Chiefs, and has close to 200 appearances between Bath (2012-2016) and the Chiefs (2016-2024). Continuing their European recruitment, Scottish lock Hamish Bain will also join the Chicago Hounds, joining from Vannes after helping the French Pro D2 side win promotion to the Top 14. Bain was also part of the Jersey Reds team that won the 2022/23 Championship season under former Hounds Head Coach Rob Webber.

Finally, following the announcement by the Utah Warriors that he would not be returning for the 2025 MLR season, South African lock Louis Conradie announced his retirement on Instagram at the age of just 28. Conradie made 8 appearances (3 starts) for the Warriors during their tough 2024 season.

https://twitter.com/HoundsChicago/status/1852084895683649558
Source: @HoundsChicago on Twitter/X

And there (finally!) concludes the summary of all player moves around MLR for last week. With the off-season showing no signs of slowing down, expect more moves and longer articles as we breka down all the moves. Summary graphics and accompanying articles are published on Mondays on this site and on our instagram page, @MLRStats. Also be sure to follow my personal twitter/x @jamdelay for any schedule changes/news items. Thank you as always for reading, especially if you got this far!

MLR Player Move Summary: October 21-27, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

Another week gone by, and another boat-load of player moves to break down around Major League Rugby. This is your weekly summary of new signings, re-signings, and departures from last week, October 21st to October 27th, 2024. It’s a multi-page summary graphic again this week, and here’s Page 1:

Re-Signings Galore

The Miami Sharks are going steady with their re-signings, announcing another pair of returning players for their 2025 campaign. US-born Argentinian back row Ben Bonasso will return for his 5th MLR season and the 2nd with the Sharks, and veteran hooker Sean McNulty will also return for Miami in what will be his 7th season in the competition. Both Bonasso and McNulty are capped USA Eagles and both have also won an MLR Shield in their careers, McNulty with the LA Giltinis in 2021 and Bonasso the following year for Rugby New York, actually playing against McNulty’s Seattle Seawolves in the final that year. Both players also have over 50 MLR appearances, and were core pieces of the Miami Sharks squad for their impressive inaugural season in 2024.

The Chicago Hounds also continue to announce the return of players from their impressive 2024 season. The Hounds confirmed that Canadian National Team captain Lucas Rumball, will return for their 2025 season, as will Irish winger Michael Hand II, who impressed with 3 tries in 8 games while on loan to the Miami Sharks in 2024. Rumball, a long-time Toronto Arrow before their demise in November 2023, currently sits 2nd on MLR’s All-Time top tacklers list on 880, and will no doubt be eying the 1,000 mark in 2025.

Finally for re-signings, the back-to-back reigning Champion New England Free Jacks announced a quartet of familiar faces that will be back at Fort Quincy next season. Canadian international and 2024 S. Marcus Calloway Award recipient Ben LeSage will return for his 6th MLR season (3rd with New England), and back row monster and Namibian international Wian Conradie will also return having missed a huge chunk of the 2024 season with injury. Fellow Namibian international Le Roux Malan also returns after his heroics in the 2024 MLR Championship Game. Malan’s last 2 MLR tries have come in consecutive MLR finals, scoring against the Legion in 2023, and the Seawolves in 2024. Speaking of the 2024 final, the MVP of that game is back for his first full MLR season. Jed Melvin was a late addition to the Free Jacks in 2023, but scored 4 tries in 8 games (including a hat trick), and was named MLR Finals MVP for his performance at Snapdragon Stadium. The New England Free Jacks seem to have the majority of their 2024 roster returning, and will no doubt be a force to be reckoned with again in 2025.

New Signings – Warriors fill out and Free Jacks beef up

The New England Free Jacks weren’t just busy with re-signings last week. The reigning champs also added a pair of new faces to their roster for 2025 in the form of Fijian prop Jone Koroiduadua, and Kiwi lock Sam Caird. Koroiduadua joins the Free Jacks from the Fijian Drua in Super Rugby, and although missing out on the 2023 Rugby World Cup due to injury, earned his test debut for Fiji during the 2024 Pacific Nations Cup. 6’7 lock Sam Caird joins from Northland in the NPC, where he has played since 2019 after a couple of seasons with Waikato. Caird helped the New Zealand U20 side to a U20 World Championship Final victory in 2017, and has also represented both the Waratahs and Highlanders in Super Rugby, as well as the Kintetsu Liners in Japan. Both Koroiduadua and Caird add plenty of size to what is already a formidable Free Jacks pack.

MLR has a strong connection with New Zealand’s National Provincial Championship (NPC) competition, as the two leagues have no overlap, allowing players to play professional rugby year-round between New Zealand and the USA. This is why so many MLR names head to Aotearoa during the off-season, and so many new MLR signings come from NPC sides. This is no different this offseason, and the Utah Warriors added four NPC players last week. The Warriors announced the signing of Logan Crowley (the son of former Canada head coach Kieran Crowley) from the Taranaki Bulls, who was signed with the Warriors ahead of 2024 but did not feature, instead remaining in New Zealand. The Warriors also announced the signing of Australian prop Remsy Lemisio, a teammate of Sam Caird’s at Northland. Lemisio played with the Australian U20 side before moving to New Zealand to play with Northland in 2023. The Warriors also went shopping in North Harbour, adding back row Tamarau McGahan who has represented the team since 2020, and Manawatū, adding Turbos centre Kyle Brown who has played in green since 2023.

The only inter-league move last week saw former NOLA Gold center/fly-half Rodney Iona join the Seattle Seawolves for 2025. Iona scored 4 tries and 128pts in 23 games (all starts) for NOLA between 2023-2024, but his departure from the Gold was announced by the team on October 7th. It seems like the Samoan international then signed on with the 2024 runners-up as a free agent, with the Seawolves announcing the signing of Iona on October 24th.

Departures – Destination Unknown

On the topic of the NOLA Gold, they continued to bid farewell to members of their 2024 team, thanking Sean Paranihi and Sebastiano Villani for their service. Paranihi earned 18 appearances for the Gold (16 starts) between 2023-2024, completing 111 tackles, and US-eligible Italian scrumhalf Sebastiano Villani was drafted 2nd overall by the Gold out of St. Bonaventure in 2022, earning 9 MLR appearances (1 start) since then. This takes the number of departures announced by the NOLA Gold to 9, while former French international Kélian Galletier is the only addition confirmed by the team.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

So ends another weekly wrap up of all the goings on during MLR’s 2024/25 offseason. This summary is going up a few days late (apologies for that) so we already know MLR teams are keeping busy as we move into November. Stay tuned for this week’s summary next monday!

If you’re looking to jump into the end of season sales, visit shopmlr.com and use code ‘MLRSTATS’ at checkout for 15% off your order!

MLR Player Move Summary: October 14-20, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

The Major League Rugby Off-Season rollercoaster is well and truly off and running, with a second week in a row chock-full of new signings, resignings, and departures! Welcome to NARDB’s weekly off-season summary for October 14-20, 2024, keeping you up to date on all the roster moves around MLR ahead of the 2025 season. For the first time in the 2024/25 off-season, we have a multi-page summary graphic! Page 1 of this week’s summary is shown below:

MLR Player Move Summary: October 14-20 (1 of 2)
New Additions – Mexico Enters MLR and Warriors stay busy!

The San Diego Legion announced a League-first at the start of last week when they shared the news that they had signed Alejandro Pradillo for the 2025 MLR Season. Pradillo has played with the San Clemente Rhinos in the World Rugby Tens Competition, as well as with the Legion Academy side. He’s also a capped Mexican international and the first Mexican player to sign with a Major League Rugby side! Congratulations to ‘Bola’, and welcome to MLR!

A pair of players from the French Top 14 will also make their way over to the US for 2025, for different sides. The NOLA Gold announced the signing of capped French international back rower Kélian Galletier from Les Sang et Or. The Gold’s links to French rugby are baring fruit already, signing the long-time Montpellier player for 2025. Heading northeast from Perpignan to Lyon, the Utah Warriors announced the addition of capped All Blacks hooker and long-time Highlanders player Liam Coltman, who’s impressive resume includes representing New Zealand at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and even a memorable victory over the British & Irish Lions. Coltman joins from Lyon Olympique Universitaire (LOU) Rugby.

The Utah Warriors weren’t finished with the signing of Coltman, however. The Herriman-based team also announced the acquisition of a pair of test-capped Samoans, in fly-half/center D’Angelo Leuila and prop Aki Seiuli. Leuila is a 2021 NPC Champion with Waikato, played with the Moana Pasifika between 2022-2024, and represented Samoa at the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. Seiuli has also played in Super Rugby, representing the Highlanders (alongside Liam Coltman) between 2014-2019, before moving to teh UK to represent the Glasgow Warriors then the Dragons in the URC, from whom he joins Utah. Seiuli earned his test debut for Samoa in the 2022 Pacific Nations Cup, which Manu Samoa won. Finally, to wrap up a busy week at Zion’s Bank, the Warriors announced the addition of 6’8 Irish lock Gavin Thornbury who joins following a short-term contract with the reigning Premiership Champions, Northampton. Thornbury is a Leinster academy product and former Ireland U20s player, who spent most of his pro career to date with Connacht in the URC and represented the Irish Wolfhounds in 2022.

MLR Player Move Summary: October 14-20 (1 of 2)
Re-signings A-plenty!

Both 2024 Eastern Conference Finalists began announcing their returning players from 2025. The Chicago Hounds announced the return of their inaugural season co-Captains Bryce Campbell (USA Eagle #497 and Hound #1) and Luke White (USA Eagle #561), as well as stand-out rookie Noah Brown. Campbell‘s agency, BSMI Rugby, announced that his contract runs through the 2026 season. White & Brown’s contract lengths are unknown.

The reigning back-to-back Champion New England Free Jacks also started the ball rolling on their re-signings, announcing the return of FIVE household names in Quincy. Club Captain and capped Canadian international Josh Larsen will return for 2025, as will scrum-half John Poland who missed a huge chunk of 2024 due to injury. I’m sure the fans at the Fort will love to see him back in the 9 jersey. Also returning for the champs is star fly-half Jayson Potroz, who led the league in scoring in both 2023 & 2024, and sits on 327pts scored in his MLR career, all for the Free Jacks. To round out the announcement are a pair of front rows. Fan-favourite Kyle ‘The Eagle’ Ciquera, who has featured for the Free Jacks in the joint-most MLR games in team history (tied with Mitch Wilson, more on that later…), and 2022 S. Marcus Calloway award recipient and capped Canadian international Andrew Quattrin, who will return for a 3rd year in New England.

Also getting in on the re-signing party were the Miami Sharks, who announced a pair of returnees in 50-time Los Pumas capped center Matías Orlando (a late addition for the Sharks in 2024), and the team’s leading scorer and Chilean international Santiago Videla, who finished with 74pts in the Sharks’ inaugural season, 1pt above Uruguayan teammate Felipe Etcheverry.

Inter-League Moves

On top of the SIX new additions from outside MLR, there was a bit of musical chairs within the league last week. The Seattle Seawolves added MLR veteran Siaosi “CC” Mahoni for 2025 from the Houston SaberCats. 2025 will be Mahoni’s 8th season in MLR, having represented the San Diego Legion from 2018-2021, and Houston from 2022-2024. Mahoni has 53 MLR games under his belt and 39 starts, and has recently been included in the USA Eagles squad for their November tests.

The New England Free Jacks also announced the signing of a pair of former Dallas Jackals following their withdrawal from the 2025 season. The back-to-back defending champs signed 2024 MLR Forward of the Year Jero Gomez Vara for their three-peat bid after selecting him 11th in the dispersal draft, an absolute steal. The Free Jacks also announced the signing of capped Canadian prop Kyle Steeves, who was selected 6th in the Dispersal Draft by the NOLA Gold. It’s unclear whether the Gold & Free Jacks were involved in a trade for Steeves, or if he chose to sign in New England as a Free Agent. Steeves joins a strong Canadian contingent at Fort Quincy.

Source: @NEFreeJacks on twitter/x
Departures and Unconfirmed Signings

The NOLA Gold continue to bid farewell to players who will not be returning to the team in 2025. The Gold announced their 6th & 7th departures of the off-season, Fintan Coleman & Dougie Fife. NOLA acquired US-eligible Irish forward Coleman in a trade with Old Glory DC in February 2024, and he earned 10 appearances for the Gold in the team’s best season to date. Capped for Scotland at both 7s and 15s levels, Dougie Fife has played in MLR for 4 seasons to date, with 2 seasons each with the New England Free Jacks (2021-2022) and the NOLA Gold (2023-2024), scoring 13 tries in 55 career MLR games (54 starts) to date, amassing over 3,000m gained in possession. It remains to be seen if Coleman and/or Fife will return to MLR in 2025.

On October 15th USA Rugby revealed the Men’s Eagles Squad for their end-of-year tests against Portugal (Nov 9th), Tonga (Nov 16th), and Spain (Nov 23rd). Within the squad announcement were some little easter eggs that look to have revealed some player moves that were not yet confirmed. For example, the New England Free Jacks had announced the departure of ‘Ironman’ Mitch Wilson back on October 11th, but his destination wasn’t yet known. The USA Squad has him listed as an Anthem RC player. Has the national team inadventantly leaked Wilson’s destination for 2025? This wasn’t the only surprise on the Eagles’ roster. Front row Alex Maughan was also listed as an Anthem RC player after representing Rugby FC LA in 2024 having followed the team from Atlanta, where the he had played for 4 seasons. A USA Eagle and North Carolina native, Anthem is a great fit for Maughan should this be accurate. Finally, the list of reserves looks to have leaked a 3rd new Anthem RC signing, with crossover athlete and former American Raptors lock Mikey Grandy also listed as an ARC player. I know that USA Rugby has a significant stake in Anthem RC and I’m sure this was unintentional, but they may want to check with the team before potentially leaking stuff!

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

Another chaotic week around MLR makes for another lengthy summary article. Thanks very much for reading, and keep an eye out for next week’s article summarising all the moves from October 21-27, 2024! NARDB is the easiest way to stay up to date on all the additions, departures, and general goings-on around the league.

MLR Player Move Summary: October 7-13, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

The 2024/25 Major League Rugby off-season seemed to explode into life last week, with a flurry of activity from a number of teams that made for a busy news week, a welcome change to the sparse announcements through September. This article will cover all the major moves from around Major League Rugby for last week, ensuring you don’t miss a thing! As always, here’s the graphic summarizing all of the confirmed moves from October 7th to October 13th, 2024:

Source: @MLRStats on Instagram
Dallas Dispersal Draft Fallout

As revealed by both NARDB and Americas Rugby News last week, the Dispersal Draft for Dallas Jackals players took place on September 25th, with no public announcement from MLR of either it’s taking place, or the results (despite a statement to the contrary). There were three trades on the day of the Dispersal Draft, but they didn’t appear on the MLR Trade Wire (which is notoriously slow to update) until October 9th, hence their inclusion on this week’s summary.

Two of these three trades are completely administrative, with Anthem RC acquiring the 5th pick in the Dispersal Draft from Old Glory DC in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Space ($ amount unknown). ARC then flipped this pick to Rugby FC LA (who used it to select Vaughen Isaacs) along with 2025 Salary Cap Space ($ amount unknown) in exchange for the 2nd pick in the Dispersal Draft, which Anthem used to select Makeen Alikhan (who was playing for the Jackals on loan from English Premiership side Harlequins), it’s uncertain if Alikhan will return to MLR. The final trade is for an actual player. Old Glory DC picked up Argentine prop JP Zeiss with the 16th pick in the dispersal draft and immediately flipped him to the Seattle Seawolves in exchange for 2025 Salary Cap Space ($ amount unknown). Zeiss has 46 MLR caps to date across 3 seasons, starting 44 times and scoring 5 tries. He’s also completed over 350 career tackles.

Short Term Stints Across the Pond

We learned of a pair of players headed over to the UK on short-term deals to hone their game. English Premiership side the Bristol Bears announced the return of 2024 MLR Champion and newly-capped USA Eagle Toby Fricker on a 3 month contract as injury cover, and towering Seattle Seawolves lock Isaia Lotawa is headed to RGC 1404 in Super Rygbi Cymru as part of a player exchange made by former RGC player and current Seawolf Huw Taylor.

Fricker joined the New England Free Jacks late in the MLR season, earning 6 appearances including all 3 of their Playoff games en-route to the 2024 Shield, a 11-20 victory over the Seattle Seawolves which Fricker started. Isaia Lotawa didn’t feature in the 2024 final, but came off the bench in Seattle’s Western Conference Final victory over the Dallas Jackals. Lotawa earned 5 appearances for the Seawolves in 2024 and has 9 to date, including 2 starts. Both Lotawa and Toby Fricker will return to MLR for 2025, so no need for fans to worry!

Source: @bristolbearsrfc on Instagram
New Faces

Following news on October 2nd that 17 players would not be returning for 2025, the Utah Warriors began re-filling the roster by announcing the addition of 5 young, local players including two of their three 2024 MLR Collegiate Draftees. 2nd Round Pick (16th Overall) Tielu Sagala and 3rd Round Pick (28th Overall Cole Semu are officially MLR-ers. Sagala won 3 state Championships each with the 7s & 15s side at BYU, while New Zealand born Semu, also a BYU alum, has represented the USA at U18, U20, and U23 levels already. Also added by the Warriors were Papa Matelau & Mason Barker (the brother of Warriors alum Zak Barker), both of whole have represented the USA at age-grade level, and Tesimale Niupulusu, a 290lb monster front row who has been impressive in both Rugby League and Union in the Utah area.

In addition to Utah, Old Glory DC announced their first acquisition for the 2025 campaign, picking up veteran Welsh center Steffan Hughes from the Dragons in URC, where he has played since 2022. Hughes joined the Dragons in 2022 on a short-term basis but quickly earned an extension and became the team’s Captain for the 2023/24 URC season. Hughes had joined the Dragons from his local URC club the Scarlets, where he had played since 2013, earning well over 100 URC appearances and won the URC Championship in 2016/17. He captained the side through the 2019/20 & 2021/22 seasons and will add valuable experience to the Flags squad in 2025.

Source: @OldGloryDC on Twitter/X
RFCLA Build New-Look Coaching Team

Following the announcement from on October 4th that former LA Giltinis Head Coach Steven Hoiles was returning to MLR as Director of Rugby and Head Coach of Rugby FC LA, the team continued to add to their coaching squad last week with another pair familiar names. 2021 MLR Shield-Winning Captain and former Wallaby Dave Dennis returns to LA, now on the sidelines as RFCLA‘s Senior Assistant Coach, and former Austin Gilgronis and Chicago Hounds Head Coach Sam Harris takes up a position as Attack Coach.

Dennis already has an impressive trophy cabinet as a player. A Super Rugby Championship with the Waratahs in 2014, two Premiership trophies in 2016/17 & 2019/20 as well as a European Champions Cup in 2019/20 all with the Exeter Chiefs, and a MLR Shield with the LA Giltinis in 2021. He’ll be looking to add a second Shield as a coach in 2025. Sam Harris is likely well known around MLR already, having led the Austin Gilgronis through the 2021-2022 seasons before moving to Chicago to lead the Hounds through their inaugural season and the majority of the 2024 campaign before being let go in Round 15. He holds a 29-1-31 record as an MLR head coach, but will coordinate the RFCLA attack in 2025.

Source: @RugbyFCLA on Instagram
Steady Stream of Departures in New Orleans

On October 2nd the Utah Warriors announced the departure of 17 players that raised the eyebrows of many around the league, and it seems the Warriors were not the only team going through significant roster changes ahead of 2025. Throughout last week the NOLA Gold announced the departures of 5 players in total, one almost every day. Rodney Iona, Augusto Böhme, Maciu Koroi, OJ Noa, and Sam Klimkowski were all thanked for their contributions to the Louisiana team individually.

No doubt the names to stick out from this list will be Rodney Iona and Maciu Koroi. Iona has scored 4 tries and 128pts in 23 games (all starts) across 2 seasons for the Gold, and Koroi has earned 33 MLR appearances for the Gold over 3 seasons, starting 7 times and scoring 3 tries. Chilean international hooker Böhme and Samoan back rower OJ Noa both joined the Gold for the 2024 season and both earned 9 appearances, helping the Gold to finally end their MLR Playoff drought. Ohioan prop Klimkowski was drafted 13th overall by the LA Giltinis in 2021 and played with the NOLA Gold Academy side in the fall of 2022, finally earning his MLR debut for the Gold in 2024, when he featured in 4 games, starting 1.

These moves were not included on the Player Move Summary graphic as we are not yet sure of the destination of any of these players. It’s possible we could see them suiting up for another MLR team in 2025, for example. If/when I hear of any of these players signing with another team, the move will be included on that week’s graphic. It’s worth keeping an eye on NOLA to see if they continue to announce more departures this week, and who they bring in to replace these names.

Source: @nolagoldrugby on Instagram

A far longer summary article for a far busier week around Major League Rugby to start October. It seems like the off-season is really picking up, and we could be getting many more announcements over the next few weeks. Watch this space for summary articles each week, or follow @MLRStats on Instagram and @JamDelay & @NARugbyDB on Twitter/X.

Player Movement around MLR: September 30 – October 6, 2024

NAR Database

James Deeley

Another week deeper into the Major League Rugby off-season, and still no word on the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft. Player moves are still few and far between, with only 1 move confirmed last week. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about however, with plenty of action taking place off the pitch. Here’s everything you may have missed last week:

Kruse heads to the PNW

Last week, the Utah Warriors announced the departure of 17 players that would not be returning in 2025. NARDB understands that this was the choice of the team and these players were let go, rather than leaving of their own volition. One of these former Warriors found a new home almost immediately, with the Seattle Seawolves announcing the addition of USA Eagle #538 Mika Kruse for their 2025 season.

Kruse was the 10th player in MLR history to reach 50 caps in the competition on April 23rd, 2022, and has earned 80 MLR appearances as of the conclusion of the 2024 season including 51 for the Utah Warriors since 2021. Adding his 8 tries in 29 games for the Glendale/Colorado Raptors to his 18 for the Warriors, Kruse has scored 26 tries in MLR. This puts him 8th on MLR’s All-Time leading try scorer list, and he’s the 6th highest MLR Meter Eater, on 4,218m. Still only 26, Kruse is a great addition for the Seawolves and he’ll fill the gap left by Conner Mooneyham on the wing.

Source: Seattle Seawolves
Chicago add Coaching Pair

Moving to the sidelines, newly appointed Chicago Hounds Head Coach Chris Latham announced a pair of Assistant Coaches for their 2025 campaign.

Latham announced fellow Australian Todd Dammers as Forwards Coach, after the pair previously worked together with the South’s Rugby Club in Australia. Dammers has previously served as an Assistant coach for the Samoan National Team in 2019 (also alongside Latham), as well as the Director of Rugby at Sydney University and Forwards Coach with the Tokyo Black Rams in Japan’s Top League. Dammers joined the Hounds from Brisbane Boys College where he was serving as Director of Rugby.

As well as adding Dammers, the Hounds bring in former Leinster centurion and Toronto Arrows center Noel Reid as Backs Coach. Reid, who is capped for the Irish national team and played at Leinster with former Hounds player Dave Kearney, a minority owner of the Hounds with his brother Rob. As well as earning over 100 appearances with Leinster, Reid represented the Leicester Tigers and London Irish in the English Premiership, as well as Agen in France. He finished his playing career with the Toronto Arrows for the 2023 MLR season, where he earned 7 appearances and scored 1 try. Signed to play with the Arrows for the 2024 MLR season, when the Arrows withdrew from Major League Rugby Reid moved to a coaching role with the Arrows Academy, now known as The Rugby Academy. Reid also served as the Head Coach for the Markham Irish in the Greater Toronto Area in 2024.

Hoiles Returns to LA

Moving further from the pitch still, from the sidelines to the offices. Rugby FC LA announced the hiring of former Wallabies international Stephen Hoiles as Director of Rugby for the 2025 & 2026 MLR seasons. The former Waratahs & Brumbies man is no stranger to MLR or even to LA, having served as Forwards & Defence Coach of the LA Giltinis in their Shield-winning inaugural season in 2021. He was appointed as the Head Coach of the Giltinis for the 2022 season, prior to the disqualification and subsequent folding of both the Giltinis and the Austin Gilgronis during the ‘Gilly-Gate’ fiasco. Hoiles returned to his native Australia and took up a position as Head Coach of his former club team, the Randwick Galloping Greens. Hoiles coached Randwick to the Shute Shield title in 2023, the club’s first title since 2004 when Hoiles was a player. He followed his 2023 up by being named as the Shute Shield Coach of the Year in 2024, and now returns to LA.

Hoiles’ appointment with RFCLA is as Director of Rugby, his first such role. It is unclear if he will also be taking on coaching duties while in this role, similar to Seattle‘s Allan Clarke, who serves as both DoR and Head Coach of the Seawolves, or if RFCLA will be announcing a Head Coach in the near future.

Source: @rugbyfcla on Instagram

There’s your round-up for last week around Major League Rugby. These summaries are released every Monday to ensure you stay up to date on all the big news around MLR with NARDB!