Roosters join race for Kotoni Staggs

[Billy Gunn]

Cobbo for me!

He has a Latrell like ability without the grubby demeanor.

[The Marshall]

Once again Sua'ali'i plays centre, why is he being named?

Named at winger this week and he plays a lot better there. He is no centre that’s for sure.

[The Marshall]

He has a Latrell like ability without the grubby demeanor.

I agree but the risk is he turns into a Justin Hodges and ants to go home after a year

[4 the all in brawl]

If I had the choice between Cobbo and Staggs, then its Cobbo everyday of the week, but we havent had a good track record with former Broncos centres haha....

The one I would have wanted atm is Koula, speed to burn, great footwork, strong defender with plenty of upside, reminds me a lot of Michael Jennings when young, but he is locked down with the Sea Eagles til 2027...

Brett Mullins nephew at the Raiders looks pretty good,, but I have only seen him play 2 or 3 games.....

[DP1990]

Coaches media round 5, around 4:30mins in

https://youtu.be/64PJwxsc_F4?si=1s8Dmda3r7fWXh3K

’We’ve got the centres we want. We still need to add a couple outside backs but not in that price range’.

Sounds like he's referring to Dom Young, Robert Toia, Billy Smith, Mark Nawaqanitawase and maybe the UK import "Lewis Murpy" and Junior Pauga as depth cover but adding more to that list.



PS: Cobbo over Staggs any day of the week (as long as he doesn't become a headache like Latrell for us and end up at Souffs)

[Billy Gunn]

If I had the choice between Cobbo and Staggs, then its Cobbo everyday of the week, but we havent had a good track record with former Broncos centres haha....

The one I would have wanted atm is Koula, speed to burn, great footwork, strong defender with plenty of upside, reminds me a lot of Michael Jennings when young, but he is locked down with the Sea Eagles til 2027...

Brett Mullins nephew at the Raiders looks pretty good,, but I have only seen him play 2 or 3 games.....

We haven't had much luck with pommy wingers but we keep bringing them over??

I have been impressed with all the Raiders young backs this season.

[roosterchook]

We’ll need a few very good signings to make us a threat again. From 2025 we are losing Manu, Suuali, JWH and our top try scorer Toups so we will have very few top players remaining. Keary is past his best, and Crichton is he staying? I put at 5-6 years before we can even think of a possible grand final. I certainly don’t believe the Butchers and Sitili will take us far. Teddy also won’t be around for much longer.

[Rooster90]

James Schiller is the guy....right price, right pedigree

[RoosterBooster]

Are we really in the race or is this is 1+1 = 2 journalism?

We supposedly need a centre and he is on the market come November, absolute rubbish IMO .

[SamKerrSimp]

Has played far more Wing than Centre.

19 of his last 28 games were played at centre he's clearly seen as a centre in 2023/2024

[SamKerrSimp]

Named at winger this week and he plays a lot better there. He is no centre that’s for sure.

He's named on the wing this week as a makeshift winger like the other handful of times he played wing last year. I agree with you and those who say he plays best on the wing there's no doubt about it but Robinson clearly sees him as a centre in recent seasons.

[Mickie Lane]

19 of his last 28 games were played at centre he's clearly seen as a centre in 2023/2024

I think the plan was that he plays centre but because he didn’t do so well there last year I think the plan then was for him to play on the wing where he did play his best football.
If Smith didn’t get injured he wouldn’t have been in the side.
He will play either wing or centre depending on injury but I don’t think he is clearly seen as a centre.

[SamKerrSimp]

I think the plan was that he plays centre but because he didn’t do so well there last year I think the plan then was for him to play on the wing where he did play his best football.
If Smith didn’t get injured he wouldn’t have been in the side.
He will play either wing or centre depending on injury but I don’t think he is clearly seen as a centre.

He came in to first grade playing centre and only moved to wing because our options there were poor like Jaxson Paulo, Corey Allan, Junior Paunga, Kevin Naiqama, Paul Momirovski etc Sua'ali'i played wing outside guys like Hutchison and Tupouniua at times. The first chance Robinson gets to put him at centre he does so, why else do you think he went and signed Dominic Young instead of a centre?

[Waylander]

Isn't Manu going for 1 season and wanting to come back in 2026, wouldn't we be resigning him instead of chasing Staggs for 206 onwards.

The Japanese Rugby season goes from December to June. Joey has signed a 2 year deal, and at this stage will be a free agent from May 2026. He could in theory return to the NRL immediately at that time, but I suspect the 1 yr deal is to see how he enjoys living OS and playing Rugby, and he may still by eyeing off a Super Rugby franchise contract once he has proven himself in Japan for a year.

I note that Beauden Barret and Aaron Smith, both All Blacks, are currently contracted to Toyota Verblitz that Joey is going to. If Joey plays well over there he probably won't be short of offers from NZ Super Rugby clubs, and will have a pathway to an All Blacks spot if he adapts well enough (we all know he has the talent). Additionally, the coaching director over there is Steve Hansen, former All Blacks World Cup winning coach. Hansen is quoted as saying he "couldn't say yes quick enough" when he was asked about signing Joey. He compared him to SBW in athletic ability, and said he didn't see any reason why Joey couldn't have similar success in Rugby.

Somehow I don't think we'll see Joey back for a while yet. See my bolded text in the article below .... it sounds like he is targetting an AB's jesrsey.

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/no-...16-p5fka3.html

Here's an excerpt:

The Roosters were prepared to offer Manu about $800,000 a season. There was talk of Manu being targeted by cashed-up French rugby clubs, but he settled for less in Japan to work with Hansen and coach Ian Foster, another former All Blacks mentor.

Despite the Japanese Rugby League One season ending in June, there were no discussions about allowing Manu to return to the NRL for a late-season cameo in 2025 and 2026.
Hansen said Manu was likely to start at fullback or on the wing, but had the potential to shift into the centres.

Manu has spoken about wanting to represent the All Blacks but would need to be contracted to a New Zealand franchise to realise that dream.
Hansen said the next two years in Japan would work in his favour, and there was ample time to prepare for the 2027 World Cup, which will be held in Australia.

[Horry]

EXCLUSIVE:
@NRLKnights
continue roster tug-of-war with
@RaidersCanberra
by signing James Schiller. Full details
@telegraph_sport