“What’s happened?”
Along with the rest of rugby league, Terrell May was asking himself that very question when the news came down the line on Thursday afternoon.
The Roosters prop has been told he is free to leave the club immediately, just six months after signing a two-year extension that more than doubled his salary.
As one of the most improved players in the NRL and a 25-year-old prop in a market short on quality front-rowers, May will attract plenty of interest. But on Friday, club officials throughout the league were asking what had prompted the Roosters to offer their player the chance to seek a deal elsewhere.
As reported by this masthead on Thursday when it broke the news of Trent Robinson’s call to May, there is an element within the Roosters that feels May doesn’t fit into the club’s vision of where it wants to go.
The context of that is two-fold: one is a matter of freeing up salary cap space to enter a volatile player market, the other a 2024 post-mortem in which every aspect of the club went under the microscope.
Terrell May is a surprise addition to the 2025 player market.Credit: NRL Imagery
The implication of the latter is one May and his manager David Rawlings are at pains to dismiss as merely rugby league’s rumour mill does what it does worst – speculates until it is foaming at the mouth.
“The club indicated to us [that] they had depth in that position and they were looking at a different position of player, so we could explore our options in the market,” Rawlings told this masthead.
“There is no more to it. He had a great season, was on the cusp of an Origin debut, is currently in the UK representing Samoa and voted by his NRL peers into the RLPA team of the year. He is in the top echelon of middle forwards, so there will be no shortage of options.”
Terrell May playing for Samoa in last year’s Pacific Championships.Credit: NRL Imagery
May was rocked by Robinson’s call, and many have asked why the Roosters couldn’t have broken the news in person when he returns to Sydney early next week. Robinson is currently overseas, too.
Roosters sources speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation have insisted Robinson did not hold any concerns over May’s ability to fit into his team or club culture.
The coach wouldn’t have played him in all 27 games this season – the only Roosters player to do so – if he did.
But Robinson has also been known to make a tough, ruthless call or two in his time, most notably the Cooper Cronk signing that sent favourite son Mitchell Pearce to Newcastle and helped deliver the Roosters their last premierships.
Taylan and Terrell May, along with Sunia Turuva (right), after the Panthers and Roosters clashed in round 4.Credit: NRL Imagery
The private belief is that May is close to his playing ceiling, and that bringing through the next crop of young middles – led by highly rated 19-year-olds De La Salle Va’a and Blake Steep, as well as Va’a’s brother, Xavier – is the shrewd salary cap move.
Especially given Spencer Leniu and Lindsay Collins are already signed long-term, with both their salaries due to increase next year.
May’s two-year extension means he was due to earn around $950,000 over 2025 and 2026, with a car also included in the deal under NRL salary cap regulations.
As for where he lands, clubs in the market for middle forwards like Canterbury, the Tigers and Dragons will do extensive diligence given the Roosters’ surprise move.
Terrell May is cut from a different cloth to most in rugby league.Credit: Louise Kennerley SMH
The Bulldogs were in discussions with May for several months last year but grew frustrated with negotiations to the point they pulled a three-year offer, before eventually re-starting talks again.
At the time, May and his brothers, Tyrone and Taylan, spoke publicly of wanting to play NRL together, a prospect several clubs blanched at given well-documented off-field incidents involving Tyrone and Taylan.
The middle May brother has a blemishless record, and multiple Roosters sources have insisted there is no off-field drama behind him being given permission to leave early.
May does not drink, still lives in western Sydney and, as the Roosters have found, is cut from a different cloth to most rugby league players.
Privately, some Roosters figures have wondered whether May truly embraced life at the club, given he has been absent from several functions this season, albeit with extenuating circumstances.
Media access to the rising prop has been rare, but when he has spoken publicly, May has been remarkably candid.
When he sat down with the Herald during the Roosters’ finals campaign, he detailed a complicated relationship with the game that belied his career-best form this year.
“Sometimes I just get, ‘I don’t want to be there and don’t want to play’,” May said in September, referring to the two previous occasions he gave up on playing NRL, when he was 18 and 20.
“It’s a weird feeling. I don’t think many people experience it where one week they love the game and go on the TV screens and the next week they don’t want to be there at all.
“Sometimes I just feel I could quit, like in a day. It sounds a bit weird, but I get those thoughts sometimes where I’m just like, ‘Is this really for me?’ I’m very grateful to be where I am and play with the Roosters, but rugby league isn’t the whole of me.
“Then you just look at the bigger picture. You need to support your family and I couldn’t do it without footy. I have aspirations to take the club to the GF and to play for NSW.”
The bigger picture May spoke of then is a fascinating one now, for both he and the Roosters.
And the question of “what’s happened?” for one of the NRL’s rising stars and its most glamorous clubs swings the rumour mill into overdrive again with another.
“What happens next?”
Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
