2025 NSW Cup Thread

[Rooster_6]

So I take it we won't be seeing Tyler Moriarty on the bench in first grade against the Titans, who are we going to have as the rotation hooker with Watson out? At least the Flegg boys had a big win so we got some pride back there.

Who is this Fanafou Seve is he supposed to be the next big thing? There's a thread about him saying he left the club but now he's playing Flegg.

Moriarty didn't go off after the head knock, pretty sure he was just given a rest for the last 20mins.

[SamKerrSimp]

Moriarty didn't go off after the head knock, pretty sure he was just given a rest for the last 20mins.

Sorry I just meant that with the 4/10 match review he probably hasn't performed well enough to get a call up but when the team gets flogged like that there's not much a hooker can really do to stop it or stand out.

[Rooster_6]

On aside note, i watched SG Ball at Leichardt this morning and his brother Itulu was massive, strong runs and offloads, a few big hits in defence. Also Kannan Magele in combo with Itulu laid a great platform early and when they went off the score was 34 to 6. Those 2 will no doubt jump to Jersey Flegg quickly.

Yeh they were great, Lavakeiaho who only got 10mins off the bench (I assume sick or something) has been the pick of the props so far this season for me. But it was great to see Itula get some minutes to show what he's got because he had only been getting limited minutes off the bench up until now.

We certainly aren't going to be short of front options in a couple of years.

[Rooster_6]

Great update thankyou
seems it was true that he did have time off for a while - and only just coming back to training and playing again
does he seem slightly smaller but more agile and higher ceiling than the Vaa bros?

certainly nsw cup need him asap but also the nrl squad are short on middles atm with Collins out and the Vaa bros out
could he debut this year?

I haven't seen enough of Fanafou to make an call on such a thing yet. Based on what I've seen over the last month and a bit though I wouldn't be signing any props any time soon. We've got a great young crop coming through.

[King Salvo]

When you think no Collins’s, cheese, walker and 2 butcher out of first grade + 2 Vaa bro, foley, ioelu, Foketi out of the res grade players and also Roberts and losalu didn’t play that’s 12 os their 17 not playing

basically the backline is contracted players and the whole forward pack is either under 20s or next comp down playing up

Wondering what happened to Taylor Losalu this week - omitted from the NRL 22 player squad and didn't play NSW Cup either ?

[Lydon]

Round 3 NSW Cup New Zealand Warriors VS Sydney Roosters

Penrith Panthers 46 defeat Sydney Roosters 12

Match Review:
That was a very tough game to watch, we were outclassed and run off the park in areas but the most noticeable being how easily the Warriors were rolling down the field on every set. Very evident that our forward pack just wasn’t up to it and against a side with plenty of NRL it was always going to be a long day. After 55minutes the score was 46-0 and we are probably lucky the Warriors took their foot of the pedal because it was looking like being a 60+ scoreline at one point.

To be fair the side are missing a lot of forwards who would usually be playing; Foketi, Steep, Roberts, X Va’a, D Va’a, Losalu, Dockar-Clay, Makatoa, Warwick & potentially Fanafou who’s had a late start to the season. So as they start to get some of those players back I’m sure their fortunes will change.


1. Ethan King – Another really busy game from Ethan King, heavily involved in everything and was everywhere. Good kick defusal at the back, carried well in yardage and was talking a lot of 5^th play carries to set up for the last tackle kick. Unfortunately had a couple of costly errors in good ball that hurt us and missed a key tackle that lead to a try but still one of our best and can never fault his effort. 5/10

2. Tom Rodwell – Similar to last week he was very busy in yardage doing the bulk of the work for the team in backfield carries, defended well and when he got the opportunity he finished his try very nicely with a left foot step to beat both cover defenders. His only flaw was I though he bombed a potential try scoring opportunity by being a little too deep on a play but other than that again one of our best. 6/10

3. Billy Smith – Very evident he’s a class above at this level although still had a mixed performance with a lot of errors happening in and around him. Needs to work on his passing and tap ons, it’s very much all or nothing and in first grade that just won’t fly. Had one really nice pass that should’ve resulted in a try but Tom Rodwell was just slightly too deep on the play. Very strong in his carries again, just all strength and he was really good in defence making some really good decisions and his contact was excellent all game. 6/10

4. Fetalaiga Pauga – A decent first game back from his back injury, had a nice pass to put Tait away on a 50m line break from our own end. And then did what he always does which is carry well, generally very safe and was good in defence except for the 2^nd try of the game where he jammed in where the better option would’ve been to slide out. 4/10

5. Tyreece Tait – Not a good showing from Tait again, got one opportunity in open space and showed his speed but again just wasn’t getting involved in yardage carries out of our own end and looked unconvincing when having to defuse kicks. 3/10

6. Jake Elliot – His combination with Rodwell this week looked better but playing behind a forward pack who was continually getting torn to shreds you’re never going to see much from your halves. Had a nice grubber kick early on that probably should’ve resulted in a try, the shapes he and Rodwell ran in attack looked good but again for most of the game we were either defending or bringing the ball off our own goal line, hard to be critical of the young halves. 4/10

7. Toby Rodwell – Similar to Elliott didn’t get much chance to show off his ability but when we did have the ball in good positions I thought he organised well, we had some good shapes, his general play kicking was strong and his restarts on drop out ands kick offs were good, on 2 occasions we won possession back. 6/10

8. Aholoka Toia – Big powerful prop but just didn’t have much impact on the game at all, few carries and made a silly error in the 2^nd half that hurt us. 3/10

9. Tyler Moriaty – Feel sorry for the kid, looked like he had been in the wars before the game had even start with headgear and what appeared to be some bandaging on his chin and then copped another head knock early in the 2^nd half. Never stopped trying in defence, super busy but just never got any momentum off his forwards to show anything out of dummy half. Unfortunately got stripped in a 1 on 1 in the second half which again added to the problem. 4/10

10. Rhys Dakin – The new prop had a game he’d probably like to forget, really poor one on one miss off a 20m tap restart that kind of set the tone for the game. Worked through his tackles and had a few carries but never really had any impact on the game. 3/10

11. Max McCathie – Took a lot of tough carries on some hard lines against a regularly set defence because we had no momentum, one of the few forwards who probably hangs around when all the rest of the boys start to come back in. Poor missed tackle on 1^st try and made a basic error but never stopped trying. Physically still struggles a bit in the contact when carrying. 5/10

12. Vito Tevaga – Didn’t see much ball down his edge but when he did he had some flashes of maybe being able to create something with his footwork intent but overall largely ineffective and threw an intercept that compounded the continual turning over of cheap possession. 3/10

13.Hayden Barton – Probably the hardest working forward in the team, his defence was actually really good one of the few middles who was making an impact in trying to stem the flow of momentum but again in yardage a lot of work but largely ineffective. 5/10

14. Josh Finau – Big powerful prop again showed that physically he’s up to this level but just didn’t get many minutes and for those he was on a lot of defending. 4/10

15. Kyron Fekitoa – Don’t want to be too harsh as he’s a centre who was force to play dummy half due to the number of injuries but as expected his passing was poor, his defence was ok and he had a couple of good scoots out of dummy half. 3/10

16. Lafi Tuinauvai – Really big fella, good strong carries as well but again mostly defending during his short stint. Would like to see some more of him. 4/10

17. Julius Mitchell – The young prop backed up from Jersey Flegg and only got on for 10-15 minutes and similar to the rest was mostly defending and only had a couple of carries and as such too hard to judge. No rating.

Thank you

[Rooster_6]

Sorry I just meant that with the 4/10 match review he probably hasn't performed well enough to get a call up but when the team gets flogged like that there's not much a hooker can really do to stop it or stand out.

It’s hard to look good behind a well beaten pack as a dummy half. Same with Jake Elliot and Toby Rodwell, not really a reflection on their ability so much as the circumstances they were given.

I think his defence is good enough and his service is better than Dockar-Clay’s but from what I have seen he doesn't seem to offer much more outside of that.

[Lindsay's Dentist]

Wondering what happened to Taylor Losalu this week - omitted from the NRL 22 player squad and didn't play NSW Cup either ?

I was thinking the same.

[Inflictor]

I was thinking the same.

Big concreting contract. His main source of income atm.

[Lindsay's Dentist]

He just needs to harden up.

[Rooster90]

Great update thankyou
seems it was true that he did have time off for a while - and only just coming back to training and playing again
does he seem slightly smaller but more agile and higher ceiling than the Vaa bros?

certainly nsw cup need him asap but also the nrl squad are short on middles atm with Collins out and the Vaa bros out
could he debut this year?

The Va'a boys have a massively high ceiling

Unfortunately they just can't stay on the field - The Roosters Way

[SamKerrSimp]

It’s hard to look good behind a well beaten pack as a dummy half. Same with Jake Elliot and Toby Rodwell, not really a reflection on their ability so much as the circumstances they were given.

I think his defence is good enough and his service is better than Dockar-Clay’s but from what I have seen he doesn't seem to offer much more outside of that.

It will be interesting to see who comes in for Watson and whether ZDC starts/gets extended minutes. Who actually could realistically fill at 9 this week with ZDC if not Moriarty, Radley?

[A Country Member]

It will be interesting to see who comes in for Watson and whether ZDC starts/gets extended minutes. Who actually could realistically fill at 9 this week with ZDC if not Moriarty, Radley?

My guess would be Ethan King. From R6s synopsis and the fact he can cover a number of positions, feel he would be an NRL 14. Don’t think Hugo would be effective given he’s 6’4”. That’s a long way down to dummy half

[SamKerrSimp]

My guess would be Ethan King. From R6s synopsis and the fact he can cover a number of positions, feel he would be an NRL 14. Don’t think Hugo would be effective given he’s 6’4”. That’s a long way down to dummy half

That's a good shout I think we played Adam Keighran at 9 the year Friend retired and Verrills was injured so Robbo has done it in the past with outside backs and we all know about his use of Hutchison across multiple positions. I am sure either Nat Butcher or Radley filled in at 9 during a game at a pinch but doubt that Robbo would go that way.

[Rooster_6]

It will be interesting to see who comes in for Watson and whether ZDC starts/gets extended minutes. Who actually could realistically fill at 9 this week with ZDC if not Moriarty, Radley?

ZDC definitely starts, he's consistently got the call up ahead of Moriaty and of course started against the Titans last year so he's no doubt first choice. Will just be a matter of whether he backs Savala to be the cover at dummy half or picks Moriaty on the bench.

I think Radley's days of playing dummy half are over, he's beefed up a lot since he last played there.