Josh Papali'i ponders NRL free agency amid last contract year with Canberra Raiders

The Canberra Raiders star is one of the highest-profile players who can now negotiate with rival clubs when discussing his future for the 2025 season and beyond.

The market frenzy will begin on Wednesday with a host of clubs desperate to fill roster spots.

Papali'i has a contract to play with the Raiders next year, and has an option to extend that into 2025 if he plays 75 per cent of games across the 2023 and 2024 campaigns.

The front-row enforcer retired from representative football this year, but at 31 he still feels he has plenty to offer the NRL and can be one of the game's most damaging forwards.

Papali'i said he was yet to decide if he would field offers, but expected the contract uncertainty to spark some of the best football of his career as he attempts to bury his injury demons of this year.

"I want to prove a lot of people wrong, and that I've still got what it takes to be a top-five prop in the game. I feel like that's where I belong," Papali'i told The Canberra Times.

"From being a kid from Logan, I moved down to Canberra by myself and then got married, and had three kids.

"But as my time goes on, I'm not getting any younger and I know clubs are in demand of good players, and young players. That's [my future] probably something I need to sit down and talk to my wife and my manager about.

"I still haven't thought about it, to be honest.

"But what I am thinking about is turning up for day one of pre-season in good shape and I'm looking forward to a big season next year."

Since making his Raiders debut in 2011, the New Zealand-born Queenslander has become a beloved member of the Green Machine, and next season he could become just the third player in the club's history to reach the 300-game milestone.

It's hard to imagine Papali'i playing anywhere else, but he'll be turning 32 next season, so any contract he signs next will almost certainly be his last, and there would be a lot to consider.

Maybe he'd want a move back to Brisbane to be closer with extended family before he eventually hangs up the boots?

Or maybe Papali'i feels he has a better chance at winning a premiership with another club.

Perhaps Canberra is still so close to his heart that he wants to see out his career in green, and retire a one-club man? The reality is, not even Papali'i knows the answer to these questions yet.

But he is certain of one thing - he has a lot more to give, and he wants to show it next season with Canberra.

Papali'i started last pre-season coming off the back of a big World Cup campaign, before a calf injury kept him out of the opening three NRL rounds.

Then Papali'i's season ended prematurely when he tore his bicep in round 26.

Those injury hurdles led to an up-and-down year, where he played 18 games with three starting from the bench. Now he's on the mend, Papali'i wants to give it his all in 2024, with a fresh bill of health.

"It was a frustrating season for myself," he said.

"I've got a massive scar to show from the [bicep] surgery. It's just a shame I couldn't play finals and help the lads out."

Surrounded by up-and-coming talent in the Raiders forward pack like Ata Mariota, Trey Mooney, Corey Horsburgh and Hohepa Puru, Papali'i was proud of how the next generation performed in his absence in the finals.

But the experienced prop doesn't want to take a back-seat just yet, and pleasing for Raiders fans will be the fact that the last couple of times Papali'i has been without a contract beyond one season, it's driven him to go to another level.

The 282-gamer is aiming for the same thing to happen next season.

"I think I had the same contract situation back in 2013, and then 2018, so heading into the 2019 season that brought the best footy out of me and I feel like this is no different," he said.

"I know I'm turning 32 next year, but I feel like I've got something special to offer to the club.

"Only last week my parents asked me if I was retiring because they heard rumours I might be retiring.

"It just adds that fire in the belly that makes me want to go out and play some of my best footy."

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