Joseph Manu to Depart at Season’s End

[Danish]

The alternative was to try and push teddy out of the club early as clearly Manu is not happy playing centre on centre money. I can’t blame him for that. He has a kid now, and loyalty to a pro sports team is not worth robbing your kid of half a million per year.

i think we made the right choice. manu has played great in his limited games at fullback, but let’s not forget these games were for the most part during the origin period against dogshit teams given teddy hasn’t got injured too often while with us.

I think expecting these performances would be a weekly occurrence would be a stretch, which they would have to be in order for him to be even in line with what we’ve got out of teddy every season.


id like to think he goes for a couple seasons and comes back when teddy retires, but who the hell knows

[Horry]

There is no mention of how long the new contract is for ... if it's 12 months, then he could be back in May next year??

Or am I in denial and just clutching at straws??

ON the twitter page for the team its says 2024-2025

[zac]

There is no mention of how long the new contract is for ... if it's 12 months, then he could be back in May next year??

Or am I in denial and just clutching at straws??

yep, their 2024-25 season finishes then apparently. without a contract that goes beyond may of next year who knows what will happen. even if the plan is to switch to rugby for longer, he might find he doesn't like it. that said, there's got to be a fair chance he never plays for the roosters again. that would be sad but hopefully he goes out with another ring

[Billy Gunn]

He's leaving for an absurd amount of money that you can't cripple your salary cap paying a centre or almost anyone in the league that isn't Nathan Cleary

Teddy and Keary have one year extensions which it's fair to assume is lower than their existing contracts. JWH and Suaalii would have freed up some cash. The rah rah kid is the only real signing and a number of extensions to existing players.

We are currently without a marquee player for 2026.

[mightyrooster]

Depressing. That’s all I can say.

[lordteddy]

Like RTS, his talents will be wasted in Union. Let's hope he comes back to us if he does!

[rented tracksuit]

Not sure if I am reading more into it but I don't think Joseph Manu will be back.

“I have cherished my time playing rugby league for the Roosters so it’s been a tough decision to leave the club and NRL. I will always be grateful to wear the Roosters jersey and to everyone who has supported me and provided me with some incredible opportunities,” said Manu via a club-issued statement released on Tuesday.

I don’t know why but I see myself agreeing with a bit more lately.

Except on the he/she stuff you seem to love and support.

[HunchoRooster]

News we've known for a while but always tough when it's confirmed.

He's a legend, a great representative of the club and one of my favorite Roosters ever. Hope he finds happiness and success and (of course $$$) in Union.

It's a must that he comes back to us though in due course. 2026 or 2027.

[Red.]

Such a waste of talent. This will really hurt us.

[Carlos Parra]

It beats the hell out of me why anyone would voluntarily play Rugby Union over Rugby League.

Money obviously talks.

[SamKerrSimp]

Teddy and Keary have one year extensions which it's fair to assume is lower than their existing contracts. JWH and Suaalii would have freed up some cash. The rah rah kid is the only real signing and a number of extensions to existing players.

We are currently without a marquee player for 2026.

Respectfully I disagree. Manu is great but I don't believe we can cripple ourselves paying $1.2m+ for him to play centre or play centre for 1 or 2 years to play fullback when Teddy retires. If the fullback spot was free then I am sure the club would work something out but they've shown they won't pay over certain limits and that largely contributes to our good salary cap management.

Think about this, at the end of 2015 we lost Michael Jennings and by mid 2017 we had Latrell Mitchell and Joey Manu making their way in to first grade in the backline. NRL 360 did just say they believe we are going to stick with what's at the club for 2025 in the backs, if Toia and Smith can get fit that could be our new Latrell and Manu we don't know but I anticipate 2025 to be a famous transition period like 11-12 was.

[Inflictor]

GL Joey. We will slowly be losing our 2018/2019 premiership team in the next couple of years.

Our backup for Teddy next year is a big concern.

[Chook2]

Congrats for having a go at something else Joey
glad it’s not at another nrl side
If he comes back it will be with us
could be back mid 2026 season
allthough again such a shame we are loosing another rooster talent
I think this one hurts more then rts and Latrell
rts was better however didn’t stay as long! Latrell for us was Huge despite what BS he has been recently
Joey is interesting should have been an nrl fullback but we will never quite know how good he could have been

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

Say day for the Roosters. Hopefully he is back before too long.

[bondi paul]

I seem to recall Joey is a digital designer for games so if that’s the case going to Japan is a valid reason other than for his footy. Mrs Manu likely also design. Japan like China are the major players in that field.