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As part of a series profiling the expected Round 1 sides for all 17 NRL clubs in 2025, the Roosters begin a new era with question marks over several positions in their line-up.
Trent Robinson enters the most uncertain season of his decade-plus reign at the club after the biggest overhaul of the roster under his watch.
The Roosters have said farewell to several of their stars including rugby converts Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Joseph Manu, experienced forward Sitili Tupouniua has joined the Bulldogs while veterans Luke Keary and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves are finishing their careers in the Super League.
They surprisingly let young prop Terrell May walk before he had even started his lucrative contract extension and they will be without star halfback Sam Walker for most of the season and hooker Brandon Smith for all of it due to their horrific knee injuries suffered late last year.
The Roosters are banking on their existing talent as they have only replaced these top-liners with Chad Townsend on a short-term deal from the Cowboys although former Wallabies winger Mark Nawaqanitawase is pretty much a fresh recruit after joining the club late last season.
Robinson still has a team capable of challenging for the finals, but they are no longer the sure things that they have been in recent times.
Townsend was signed as a back-up option when Keary announced his departure but following the ACL tear to Walker which will keep him out until at least midway through the season, the former Cowboy will start in the halves alongside Sandman Smith.
Nawaqanitawase showed in his one appearance in round 27 that he has the talent and athleticism to adapt to rugby league, but there will be growing pains whether they play him at centre or on the wing this season.
Billy Smith missed the entire 2024 season due to injury so he will also feel like a new player for the Roosters and he will also be crucial in filling the yawning gaps out wide.
But with just 27 NRL appearances since his debut in 2019, the injury-prone 25-year-old faces a make-or-break season.
Keary was retiring and then changed his mind after getting an offer from Catalans. Waerea-Hargreaves is suiting up for Hull KR while Suaalii and Manu are trying their luck in rugby.
Manu could return later this season because he has only signed a one-season deal in Japanese rugby but Suaalii is on a multimillion-dollar deal with Rugby Australia until the end of the 2027 World Cup.
Joseph Suaalii is tackled. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
Tupouniua was squeezed out due to the Roosters’ salary cap pressures when they re-signed Angus Crichton but the decision to tell May he could leave raised plenty of eyebrows after his breakout season last year and the Wests Tigers snapped him up in a massive boost to their pack which could come back to bite the Roosters.
The Roosters have plenty of question marks in the backline, a new halves pairing and several spots in the forward rotation to fill.
Centre is the major issue following Manu and Sualii linking with rugby.
Smith is a first grader when he can stay on the park, but he has been plagued by injuries, Nawaqanitawase is unproven at NRL level while Dominic Young and Daniel Tupu are specialist wingers, so they are unlikely to be brought in one position closer to the action.
Junior Pauga and Robert Toia are young Roosters who could find themselves playing plenty of first grade this year.
The halves are an issue for Robinson with Sandon Smith and Townsend to form a makeshift partnership until Walker can get back on the park.
Brandon Smith’s even worse knee injury suffered last season is likely to keep him out for the entirety of 2025 and he has already been told he will not be re-signed for next year so he has probably played his last game in the red, white and blue.
NSW representative Connor Watson will start at hooker while the bench will be filled with inexperienced players apart from Egan Butcher due to the departure of several big names.
Their starting 13 still has plenty of firepower with captain James Tedesco, Lindsay Collins, Spencer Leniu, Crichton and Victor Radley but depth will be a major problem for Robinson if injuries strike.
1 James Tedesco
2 Dominic Young
3 Robert Toia
4 Billy Smith
5 Daniel Tupou
6 Sandon Smith
7 Chad Townsend
8 Lindsay Collins
9 Connor Watson
10 Spencer Leniu
11 Angus Crichton
12 Nat Butcher
13 Victor Radley
Interchange
14 Mark Nawaqanitawase
15 Egan Butcher
16 Naufahu Whyte
17 Siua Wong
Other squad members: Brandon Smith, Sam Walker (injured), Blake Steep, Junior Pauga, De La Salle Va’a, Toby Rodwell, Tyler Moriarty, Xavier Va’a, Reece Foley, Toby Rodwell, Ethan Roberts
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