The Sydney Roosters are set to drop two players this week as the glamour club grapples with the possibility of missing finals, sparking debate over whether young gun Sam Walker should sit out the entire season.
The Roosters pulled off an upset win over Penrith last month but losses to the Titans and Rabbitohs have the Chooks second last on the ladder heading into Friday’s clash against the Broncos in Brisbane.
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There is a sense the Tricolours are treading water until Walker returns from injury mideason, Reece Robson joins from the Cowboys next season, while the club waits to see if Daly Cherry-Evans will sign with them.
News Corp’s Brent Read suggested on NRL 360 the Roosters could keep Walker on the sidelines for the entire 2025 season if the Roosters are out of finals contention by July.
That prompted a fiery response from Braith Anasta and a heated debate you can watch in the video above.
Read said: “If their season is over come July-August, why would you risk him? Why don’t you give him the rest of the year off, get him right for 2026?”
Anasta fired back: “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard in my life.”
Read replied: “Really?”
Anasta said: “Yeah it is.”
Read said: “They’ll be 1-6 in two weeks!”
Anasta: “I don’t really care if they’re in finals contention, I’m still playing Walker. If he’s available, I’m playing him.
“If they both come back with nine rounds to play, they got Brandon Smith and Walker back and win eight out of their last nine, what happens then?”
Read: “It may not matter the way they’re going. Mate, they’re 1-6 in two weeks.”
He said he was “writing off’ the Roosters’ finals chances.
Anasta: “Do you know what’s going to happen? Are you Nostradamus?”
Phil Rothfield added: “The Roosters have a responsibility to the game to put their best side on the park. They can’t score a try from a kick. Sam Walker is a million dollar player — to suggest they should rest him is outrageously silly.”
Roosters set to swing axe on two players
Veteran playmaker Chad Townsend was signed from the Cowboys as a stopgap for the Roosters after Walker ruptured his ACL midway through last season.
The 34-year-old has been underwhelming in attack for the Roosters and Young’s early season form has come under scrutiny, while young five-eighth Sandon Smith has had some bright moments without being outstanding.
“Chad Townsend is going to be dropped from the side for this weekend,” Rothfield told NRL 360 on Monday.
“There’s one telling statistic, the Roosters have not scored a try from a kick this year.
“Without Sam Walker, who is one of those beautiful players close to the line — grubbers, chips, bombs — the Roosters have got nothing. They’ve scored 19 tries and it’s all been hands on the football.”
Rothfield said 22-year-old Hugo Savala would play against the Broncos this weekend in place of Townsend.
“Dom Young is facing the chop,” Rothfield continued, adding the Roosters winger “probably misread the Latrell pass” that led to South Sydney’s matchwinning try over the Roosters.
Anasta said: “I don’t disagree with that (Young’s omission).
“He probably needs to have a breather and freshen up. A few poor reads and under the high ball he’s been a little bit suss.
“I think he’s got some work to do Dom to get himself back to his best. He’s great in open space and he’s a great finisher, but he got a few things wrong on the weekend and he has the past month.”
The Roosters’ poor start to the season has heightened scrutiny on the club’s recruitment in recent years.
“We’ve got to be fair dinkum here, the Roosters’ recruitment hasn’t been great,” Rothfield said.
“We still haven’t got a reasonable explanation for the departure of Terrell May.”
Dan Ginnane said: “The problem is the big fish they haven’t been able to land in the last couple of years. That exacerbates the whole thing.
“There was a period of 10, 20 years — they didn’t miss out on anyone. If the Roosters wanted someone … that’s where the sombrero joke started. There are more misses than hits at the moment, that’s the big concern.”
Anasta said: “For the first time in a long time, the Roosters have got their recruitment wrong in a number of areas.
“We go back to Brandon Smith and letting certain players go. I’m a Roosters fan and everyone knows how close I am to Nick (Politis), but we’ve got to tell it how we see it, they have got it wrong.
“Even Chad Townsend, when they bought him, it was like, ‘Why?’
“Even as a back-up, use one of your young kids coming through. Is anyone surprised with how he’s performed this year? Is anyone surprised with what happened to Brandon Smith? I wasn’t.”
Rothfield added: “DCE might change that, not that they’re giving anything away.”
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