Wests Tigers CEO Shane Richardson defended the decision to part ways with Tallyn Da Silva immediately, rather than keep him until the end of the season in a bid to help the club avoid a potential fourth straight wooden spoon.

Club junior Da Silva was contracted until the end of 2026, but signed a four-and-a-half year deal with Parramatta on Monday – the final day of the NRL’s transfer deadline.

With co-captain Api Koroisau unavailable this weekend because of concussion, the Tigers will turn to Tristan Hope to play No. 9 against the Roosters, with the club eager to avoid a seventh straight loss.

Da Silva’s exit comes a month after his good friend and fellow junior Lachie Galvin departed for Canterbury. Galvin posted a cheeky ‘perfect’ hand gesture, and a wink, to his social media account when congratulating Da Silva.

Co-captain Jarome Luai, who missed last weekend’s game with a staph infection, but made a point to attend a Tigers’ team meeting before joining NSW Origin camp early Monday, said of Da Silva’s early: “He was in a similar situation to Lachie, he wants more opportunity, everyone is entitled to that. All the best to him and his future. I’m sure he’ll be a great player for a long time.”

Richardson said there were two reasons why it made sense to let Da Silva leave now.

“I went out to see Tallyn’s family two weeks ago; they were really good people, Tallyn wanted to stay, but he wasn’t prepared to stay if Api was going to be extended,” Richardson said.

“We gave him permission to look around, and when he came back with the [Parramatta offer], we had to make a final decision about extending Api, so we decided to do it.