Captain Apollo
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Well don't I have some egg on my face. First game after Walker's available and he is starting, Savala's at five eight and Sandon Smith to the bench
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Can’t pick it lol it was a flip of the coin anyway.Well don't I have some egg on my face. First game after Walker's available and he is starting, Savala's at five eight and Sandon Smith to the bench
Well don't I have some egg on my face. First game after Walker's available and he is starting, Savala's at five eight and Sandon Smith to the bench
If he's a lot cheaper than Watson it might be worth keeping him over Connor but he'll probably get fringe half money elsewhere and need to fail properly to then transition into the utility role over time like Watson.
A conveniently forgotten fact when the media and neutrals go on about losing him.
Call off the Dally Ms ... the race has already been run and won
By Christian Nicolussi
June 24, 2025 — 7.45pm
It is only June, but we should call off the Dally M race already and just hand rugby league’s top gong to James Tedesco.
Voting for the NRL player of the year award went behind closed doors after round 12, with Warriors playmaker Luke Metcalf leading the pack on 31 points, followed by Cronulla’s Will Kennedy on 29 and Roosters skipper Tedesco on 28 points.
Wests Tigers prop Terrell May (27), and Dolphins playmaker Isaiya Katoa and Broncos prop Payne Haas, both on 23, rounded out the leading group.
If you look at performances since then, you can almost put a line through Kennedy, whose form the past month has dipped. Cronulla have dropped two of their past three games, Kennedy remains without a deal, and some will argue he could yet lose his No.1 jersey to Nicho Hynes.
May burst out of the blocks but, while his form has remained consistent, he has also struggled to poll points in a Tigers side that has now lost five straight games.
Metcalf was outstanding against the Sharks, when he would have polled a full six points, but was hampered by a corked quad in the weekend loss to Penrith. The leg issue remains a worry moving forward, starting with Saturday’s trip to Suncorp Stadium where a revitalised Broncos await.
Tedesco, meanwhile, is enjoying one of his best seasons in years. For all the talk about the young talent at Bondi, their 32-year-old leader is the one setting the standards for them.
He is breaking tackles, scoring tries and seems to have finally found the perfect balance of when to call for the ball and when to have faith in those around him.
Not having to shoulder the physical and mental burdens of State of Origin has also been a blessing for Tedesco, who was brilliant against the Cowboys on Sunday, outstanding in a gritty game against the Knights last weekend and one of the standouts in a beaten side against the Raiders.
The first thing Perth Bears coach Mal Meninga should do is pick up the phone to his World Cup-winning captain and persuade him to sign with the NRL’s new franchise. Tedesco is off contract at the end of next season, and the kind of player you need for an NRL start-up.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson and chairman Nick Politis would be loath to lose Tedesco, but there would be nothing stopping him playing a few years in Perth then returning to the Chooks in an ambassadorial role.
Tom Trbojevic, good friends with Tedesco from their representative days together, summed up what made the Roosters star such an effective player. “He’s always on the ball, he breaks a lot of tackles, pushes up well and uses his outside people,” Trbojevic said.
Tedesco will freshen up with the bye this weekend, then return for games against the Tigers, Dragons and Sharks – three matches the Roosters will be expected to win.
When you look for potential contenders from teams sitting on top of the ladder, few stand out.
Canterbury are leading the competition, but their success has been built on their team rather than on the back of one individual in outstanding form. The Raiders fall into the same category, while Storm players – including last year’s winner Jahrome Hughes – often pinch points off each other.
Ryan Papenhuyzen may have kicked the winning field goal in golden point against Souths, but his first half last Saturday was also one of his worst in recent memory.
Hughes was expected to romp in last year, but guests inside the Winx Room at Royal Randwick were treated to a barnstorming finish from Tedesco, who rattled home to fall short by one vote.
This year, it’s a one-horse race. In fact, let’s just call it off now.
Why the Sydney Roosters should be thanking Bryan Fletcher and The Footy Show
By Christian Nicolussi
July 4, 2025 — 7.40pm
The Sydney Roosters should be thanking Bryan Fletcher and The Footy Show for helping deliver their latest debutant, Max McCathie.
McCathie, a 21-year-old back-rower – and the sixth current Roosters player to graduate from Scots College – will debut off the bench for the Roosters when they host the Wests Tigers on Sunday afternoon.
Tom Rodwell, the son of Illawarra favourite Brett Rodwell, will also play his first NRL game on the wing.
McCathie was born and raised in North Bondi, but only wanted to play league after he spotted Fletcher on The Footy Show appealing for players to join the Paddington Colts. The club folded for several years before being resurrected more than a decade ago.
“Max watched ‘Fletch’ one night advertising for players to join the Colts, and he turned to me and said, ‘Dad, can I do that?’,” said McCathie’s father, Hamish.
“He would have been 10 or 11. He played all his junior footy with [Paddington], and came through every age group at the Roosters.”
When told he had helped inspire McCathie to take up rugby league, Fletcher laughed and said: “Beauty, I might take some of his match payments. Better still, I might have to see one of the local SP [starting price] bookies at one of the pubs and have something on Max to score.
“It’s great to know the club has kicked on since it started back up. I’ve got friends for life at that club, and I’m sure it will be the same for Max.
“Victor Radley has been the most successful junior probably since I retired, and we haven’t had many Colts players. [South Sydney’s] Tallis Duncan came down for a couple of years. We had the likes of the legendary Barry ‘Bunny’ Reilly, and [Newtown Jets great] Frank ‘Bumper’ Farrell.
“Max is a genuine junior, and that makes me proud. Bondi often gets a bad rap, but people forget what it was like compared to what it is now – a lot of knockabouts have done well.”
Fletcher praised Scots College for nurturing six Roosters players, and said he attended the more modest Christian Brothers Bondi, “where three blokes rocked up to a recent reunion wearing ankle bracelets”.
McCathie, Billy Smith, who is good friends with McCathie’s older brother, Jack, Siua Wong, Angus Crichton, Blake Steep and Hugo Savala all attended Scots.
Hamish revealed McCathie also loved rugby, played with Scots First XV, and was with the First XV Colts at Easts. Hamish spent time as director of rugby at Easts, and also featured in first grade as a fullback.
“I’m a Rooster through and through, grew up in the eastern suburbs, and was coached by Russell Fairfax at Easts – Russell actually dropped me from first grade to second grade,” Hamish said.
Two busloads of friends and family will make the short journey from Easts Rugby Club to Allianz Stadium for McCathie’s milestone game. McCathie, the NSW Cup captain – and the club’s 2023 Jersey Flegg player of the year – has already requested more than 150 tickets.
The match will double as the 50-year reunion for the 1975 premiership Roosters team.
Roosters utility Connor Watson was glad the Roosters’ production line was continuing – McCathie and Rodwell will take the number of NRL debuts to eight at the Bondi Junction club – and said of the pair: “Max is a lifelong Chooks fans he’s a proper diehard – he was in the Tricolours Syndicate [fan club]. For him, this is living out a childhood dream.
“Tommy came to the club this year, and the way he trained in the pre-season, he did such a good job. His back-field carries, he’s a bit like Brian [To’o] with the nuggetty, shorter build, but the work he gets through is so impressive.
“Both boys play the game the way we want – they leave everything out there and go after it. I’m excited for them both.”
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Be like JWH, but only a bit: How Roosters unlocked NRL’s most improved player
By Dan Walsh
August 22, 2025 — 3.45pm
If Naufahu Whyte isn’t the NRL’s most improved player in 2025, he is the game’s most improved front-rower.
And a touch of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ madness, just a touch mind you, has helped his rise as the Roosters new spiritual forward leader.
Whyte is rivalled by only former Tricolours teammate Terrell May for strides taken up front this season, with his post-contact and run-metre numbers ranking behind only elite props Addin Fonua-Blake and Payne Haas.
Beyond his impressive figures and James Tedesco’s dubbing as “one of the best front-rowers in the game”, Whyte has emerged as the top dog in a Roosters pack featuring representative stars like Spencer Leniu, Lindsay Collins, Angus Crichton and Victor Radley.
The 23-year-old has done so with big hair, a bigger motor and an ever-present smile, which senior Roosters figures have encouraged him to dial back on the training and playing paddock.
Leniu’s crazy eyes and shaping up to Dolphins opponents a few weeks ago at Suncorp Stadium didn’t surprise anyone.
But for those who have known Whyte since his Roosters recruitment as a schoolboy, his involvement in the round 23 fracas – 1000-watt smile and all – was a pointer to his biggest improvement. An added dose of “JWH-esque” aggression.
Coach Trent Robinson was among those to encourage a leaf taken out of Waerea-Hargreaves’ book over the past two years, given Whyte was at times deferring to the Kiwi legend and a representative cohort like Siosiua Taukeiaho and Collins at training.
When Waerea-Hargreaves took 316 games of NRL experience out the door with him last season, Whyte had already played his way into a New Zealand Test debut.
His post-season review with Robinson crystalised Whyte’s standing at the club, six months before the rest of the rugby league world caught up.
“I always tell everyone, ever since Jared and that all left, I just felt for myself I had to step up,” Whyte says.
“[Robinson] was always telling me, ‘You’re stepping into that next role now.’
“At the end of the day, you can have the talks with coaches and stuff, but if you don’t action it throughout [the] pre-season and then coming into the season, then there’s no point, so I took that personally.”
As the Roosters chase a fourth straight win against Parramatta on Saturday night, they have emerged as both one of the NRL’s form sides and a finals dark horse.
Whyte is a key pillar of their rise into the top eight. Canberra’s Kaeo Weekes probably shades him for sheer improvement from one season to the next given Whyte’s New Zealand debut last year.
The NRL’s latest elite Kiwi prop will potentially come across a Joe Tapine, James Fisher-Harris, Moses Leota or Nelson Asofa-Solomona come finals time.
As a schoolboy at Auckland’s Kelston Boys High - whose alumni include All Blacks great Mils Muliaina and Kiwi internationals Jarrod McCracken, Awen Guttenbeil and Matt Rua - Whyte excelled at both rugby and league.
Interest from Super Rugby franchises Auckland and Waikato was rebuffed given Whyte was one of few Kiwi kids preferring the 13-man game, with his eyes long set on “wearing the black jersey”.
“I’m half Tongan and half Samoan and hopefully one day I get to represent the red and blue jerseys but New Zealand’s my home,” Whyte says.
“That’s where I was born, it’s where I grew up and my childhood, my family and friends all came from there. I want to represent where I came from in the black jersey.”
I think he’s a pretty good coach.
