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Chicago Hounds extend 2024 draft pick Jake Kinneeveauk

Jake Kinneeveauk of the Chicago Hounds. Image courtesy of the Chicago Hounds.
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The Chicago Hounds and 2024 second-round draft pick Jake Kinneeveauk have agreed to terms on a one-year contract extension to keep the loose forward in Illinois.

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Kinneeveauk made his MLR debut in the Hounds’ week 10 matchup with the Seattle Seawolves last season, and while he hasn’t found his way into the matchday 23 on a consistent basis thus far in his young career, the University of Utah product did impress in the 2025 autumn Performance Squad season, earning him a contract extension.

During his collegiate career, the Alaska native earned All-Conference honours in each of his final two seasons, and more recently helped the Chicago Lions win the Midwest Premiership title.

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The No.22 overall pick from 2024 joins 25-year-old utility back Reece Botha, 25-year-old hooker Jackson Zabierek, 26-year-old flanker Emmanuel Albert, and 23-year-old rising second-row talent, Brandon Harvey, as recent signings for the Hounds.

The Chicago outfit is looking to go one better in 2026 after finishing second in the Eastern Conference a season ago and falling short to the eventual champion Free Jacks in the semi-finals.

The Hounds will kick off their 2026 season away at Anthem Rugby Carolina on April 4, with their first home game coming on April 12 against California Legion.

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GodOfFriedChicken 41 minutes ago
Jamie Joseph pinpoints where Highlanders repeatedly fell short in 2026

I’m not saying to have them rely exclusively on high school talent but teams should be able to retain their top local talent rather than lose them to more regularly successful unions on a regular basis. Look at what’s happened to the Manawatu region, who lost the entire Whitelock family and Codie Taylor to Canterbury before any of them could even play a game there. Imports are part of the game but if it’s a top talent that was either raised in your region or already plays in your region at a position that’s not of surplus, you should have more ability to have their rights. Also on the note of Tupou-Ta’eiloa, he moved to Moana because he wants to play for Tonga i.e. the actual purpose of the team.

The salary cap in SRP is very poorly enforced, especially when you compare it to leagues like the NRL or most of American sport. There’s no salary floor, so a team like the Highlanders is regularly spending much less than their other NZ teams and the whole AB top-up system means that you can essentially pay a bunch of good players much less for their SR salary than they’re worth because the players get enough of an AB top-up that their SR salary doesn’t matter. Given that the ABs have eligibility rules that require them to play SR anyway, it shouldn’t be a massive stretch to slightly increase the salary cap but include AB salaries in there. It’s not being “penalised for doing things right”, it’s keeping teams from hoarding talent and making sure the competition stays fair. Happens in the NRL every time but if their systems are as good as advertised (like Penrith, who’ve had to let go of a star every year to a lesser team since their title runs), then they should be able to rebuild. There’s a reason why the NRL’s had nearly every team (except the Warriors, Dolphins and Titans) win a premiership while SR has become top heavy with a lot of one sided results - one competition lets you hoard talent and essentially lets you pay them with hidden money legally, the other makes sure players are paid what they’re worth for the team.



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