The last time the Roosters were this unattractive with the bookmakers, they were on their way to the wooden spoon and forcing favourite son Brad Fittler out of their coach’s box.
On Thursday they were considered $9.50 outsiders against Penrith, and that’s before Origin and Test prop Lindsay Collins (illness) was ruled out of Friday’s clash.
So yes, the Chooks are the underdogs and Sportsbet has them nudging double figures in head-to-head odds.
They’ve been keeping track of those numbers since 2009 – the Roosters’ most recent last-place finish – and never in the 16 years has the glamour club come close to being dismissed so readily by the punters.
“This is a great competition and it’s a great challenge,” coach Trent Robinson smiles wryly on the four-time premiers lying in wait.
What next? No, they’re not bringing the most-capped Rooster Jared Waerea-Hargreaves home from the Super League.
Trent Robinson has plenty of questions before him in 2025.Credit: NRL Imagery
“I heard that one this morning,” Robinson says. “Can we make sure there’s multiple sources on these [reports]? We love Jared and he’ll walk back through these doors as a greying father doing some other job, but not playing.”
Nor Joey Manu either, actually. The Kiwi international will continue his code-hopping in rugby, and is expected to hop from Japanese outfit Toyota Verblitz to France once this year’s season in Japan wraps up.
“We were resigned to that a long time ago. I’ve known for probably six to nine months what his next move is and it wasn’t back here,” Robinson said.
Brandon Smith? His manager Stan Martin actually is in talks with cross-town rivals South Sydney around a two-year deal, with the Rabbitohs at the point of checking out the injured hooker’s medical history.
Brandon Smith is in talks with South Sydney.Credit: NRL Photos
Smith just hopes Wayne Bennett has gotten past his 2022 negotiations with the Dolphins, when he had told the veteran coach he was ready to sign a $900,000-a-year deal, only to go dark and ignore Bennett’s calls as he inked his Roosters contract.
“I’m stoked that he’s interested in me, but to be fair we’ve had a pretty rough relationship,” Smith said on Thursday’s Bye Round podcast.
“I did give him my word that I was signing at Redcliffe and we all know how that ended up … I hope something happens. It’s not really on me to be honest, it’s more with them.”
As for Robinson and the Roosters potentially agreeing to an early release, though?
“I walked into the game and I saw it on the news,” Robinson says, though Smith arriving early in cardinal and myrtle realistically hinges on where both sides sit on the ladder later this season.
“That’s as much as I’ve seen about it. We won’t get into hypotheticals around all of that. Brandon’s training well, working hard and he’s getting ready for mid-June. It’ll be good to get Brandon and Sam [Walker] back.”
Victor Radley, whose latest heavy head knock sparked hysterical online headlines about an immediate retirement, is OK.
Any long-term concerns given his history of concussions?
“Not with the head,” Robinson grins. “For other stuff I do. With the knowledge we have on the brain and how it works and recovery, no long-term concerns.”
Victor Radley is recovering well from his latest concussion.Credit: Getty Images
Collins’ withdrawal brings the Roosters fourth debutant this year – big-bodied half Hugo Savala – in against Penrith.
He has trained everywhere from “wing to front row” in the Roosters’ pre-season and will be a bench utility against the Panthers.
And before you go Robbo, any regrets about putting all your faith in the young Chooks after last week’s 50-14 mauling by the Broncos?
Especially when discarded forwards Terrell May (Wests Tigers) and Sitili Tupouniua (Bulldogs) were among the most impressive round one forwards across the entire competition?
“No, there’s always going to be people’s opinion on that,” Robinson says.
“I think there’s been a lot and that’s fine. That’s the choice we made and we’re really clear on where we’re going.
“If someone leaves you still want to see them go well. That’s why a lot of the time you still have contact with the players that leave, you always want them to play well, to get the best out of themselves because you’ve seen what goes on behind that player rather than just on the field.”
And what about those odds? $9.50 to take down Nathan Cleary and the Panthers? Might as well let special training guest and former lightweight world champion George Kambosos, the guest of honour ahead of his fight against Daud Yordan in a few weeks, have the last word.
“I’ve spoken to the boys when I won the championship, when I was at the top and the boys were at the top,” Kambosos, a self-described lifelong, diehard Roosters fan says.
“Now it’s a transition phase, where there’s a lot of feedback in the media; ‘do they have it anymore? Is this a rebuild?’
“I think they’re going to do very well [against Penrith]. Everyone loves an underdog. I’ve been an underdog many times. I’m still the underdog, the boys will be the underdog but we’ll see what happens.”
