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On the eve of what was due to be Joseph Suaalii’s first game against South Sydney, Trent Robinson claims the teenager can fulfil his immense talent and become a superstar of the NRL by staying with the Sydney Roosters.
He has since been ruled out of the clash with a shoulder problem to ensure he is right for the finals next week.
Before his NRL career had begun, Suaalii had already written himself a chapter in the storied rivalry between Souths and the Roosters.
The 19-year-old came through the junior ranks at the Rabbitohs but snubbed their offer, then left Rugby Australia at the altar before joining the Roosters in 2021.
Friday’s game features two teams desperate to guarantee themselves a home elimination final by winning the opening game at Allianz Stadium.
As if the new stadium, the oldest rivalry in the game in Australia and the winger’s divisive switch wasn’t enough to draw attention to the game, Suaalii is once again attracting interest from RA.
His hot run of form, which includes six tries in his last seven games, has RA executives sitting up and dangling the carrot of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour and the Rugby World Cup in Australia in 2027 in front of him.
“I’ve seen there’s been a bit of back and forth but Joey is here next year. It’s not a concern for us,” Robinson said on Thursday.
“Not because it (the interest) is not real, but because you create an environment that he loves walking into and wants to be a part of.
“We want him to want to be here and he definitely wants to be here. He’s rare, I know that and that’s why we are talking about him.
“Joey is always going to have a choice but we think we can provide a good life and footy career (for him).
“We love him and we think he can be the great player and the star he will become in these colours.”
Robinson said he admired how Suaalii had learnt to do the tough stuff first, crediting his willingness to take ugly carries to get the Roosters on the front foot.
Apart from Suaalii’s withdrawal, winger Daniel Tupou (groin) and Victor Radley were not named to play after the lock was convulsing following a concussion in last week’s win over Melbourne, while prop Lindsay Collins has been suspended for four weeks due to a hip drop tackle.
“He (Victor) has been really good right from after the game,” Robinson said. “Based on symptoms he could have played this week, but we were never going to play him after what (the convulsions) we saw.”
Radley is expected to return for week one of the finals.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
South Sydney head coach Jason Demetriou will miss the Rabbitohs’ NRL derby game with the Sydney Roosters after contracting COVID-19.
Souths said that Demetriou received a positive PCR finding after he underwent a RAT test on Tuesday.
Demetriou will be unable to take his place in the box for Friday’s sold-out opening game at Allianz Stadium to finish the regular season.
Assistant coach Ben Hornby is expected to take charge of the side.
“Most of our stuff is done during the week and then it’s over to the players,” he said. “I’d rather have me missing than a player.”
The Bunnies are already without star hooker Damien Cook after he contracted COVID-19 prior to last week’s game against North Queensland.
The seventh-placed Rabbitohs can lock up a home finals game if they beat the Roosters and leapfrog their bitter rivals into sixth spot.
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Facing a crunch NRL match against Parramatta on Thursday night, Craig Bellamy wouldn’t mind having game-breaking Wallabies winger Marika Koroibete back in the Storm ranks.
Melbourne take on the Eels at CommBank Stadium with a top four-double chance finals berth on the line.
Koroibete spent three seasons with Melbourne between 2014 and 2016, playing 58 games, although never lifting the premiership trophy. He switched codes and after making his Test rugby debut in 2017 has grown in the new code to become one of the world’s best wingers.
Against South Africa last Saturday, Koroibete set Adelaide Oval and international rugby alight when, with the Wallabies a man down, he charged like a missile 40m across field and tackled Springboks winger Makazole Mapimpi at full tilt.
He sent Mapimpi flying over the sideline, saving a certain try.
Hailed the “Flying Fijian Bullet” by another cross-code star Sonny Bill Williams after the match, Bellamy said he wasn’t surprised by Koroibete’s tackle.
“That was pretty much Marika – he doesn’t do anything unless it’s flat out,” Bellamy said.
The coach said Koroibete’s charge could hold up in any code as an example of what a player could achieve through pure effort. “It was a great example to any young footy player on how you can change a game with an effort,” he said.
“Just putting effort in – he didn’t have to know too much about the rules, he didn’t have to know too much about tactics and technical – it was just about effort and then a bit of aggression at the end.
“That’s what turns footy games – you put the effort in in your games and you’ll come up with some big plays.”
Melbourne suffered a massive blow on match eve with star halfback Jahrome Hughes ruled out with calf tightness.
They will start with Cooper Johns partnering Cameron Munster in the halves.
Johns’s last appearance was in the 19-0 win against Penrith in round 22 which was his fourth game of the year. Alec MacDonald and Jack Howarth dropped out of the squad of 22 named on Tuesday.
Wayne Bennett will be joined by St Helens coach Kristian Woolf for the Dolphins’ inaugural NRL season in 2023 in what has been described as the “dream team”.
Dolphins CEO Terry Reader confirmed the appointment of the 47-year-old Australian on Thursday at a press conference in front of Suncorp Stadium where the new franchise will play their games.
Head coach Bennett is contracted at the Dolphins until the end of 2024 and Reader said the plan was for Woolf to succeed him at the end of his tenure.
“It is another big day for the club and the key part we have talked about since day one is making sure we are building the blocks around not just 2023, but the future,” Reader said.
“I think it is a wonderful coup for the club to secure Kristian as our assistant coach and our long-term successor to Wayne.
“Kristian is very detailed, exactly like Wayne in how he goes about things. He wanted to know what we had in the building blocks underneath with our academies and pathways … and he was very impressed with that.
(Photo by Richard Sellers/PA Images via Getty Images)
“He has already achieved a lot as a head coach and wanted the opportunity to work under Wayne until he takes over.”
It is Woolf’s experience and success as a head coach at St Helens, and earlier in charge of the Townsville Blackhawks in the Queensland Cup and North Queensland Cowboys NYC head coach, which impressed the Dolphins board.
Throw in his role as Tonga head coach where he took the side to the 2017 Rugby League World Cup semi-finals and to wins over Great Britain and Australia in 2019.
“Wayne was very big on that and our board wanted someone who had the runs on the board,” Reader said.
“Kristian is looking at (winning) three Super League premierships in a row and he has turned Tonga into a powerhouse of international rugby league.
“He has been there and done that as a head coach. It is a wonderful appointment that he will come in and form a dream team of coaching. Wayne and Kristian will kick us off in 2023.”
Reader said Woolf’s impending arrival sent a message to prospective players that the club would be in strong hands into the future.
Woolf, a Queenslander, has already guided St Helens to back-to-back grand final triumphs and is on course to achieve a unique coaching hat-trick of three successive victories, having wrapped up the league leaders’ shield earlier this week.
Woolf announced on Wednesday that he’d be leaving the all-conquering Saints at the end of the season to take up a new opportunity back home.
He has also won a Challenge Cup victory during his three-season spell to enhance his reputation as one of the most successful coaches in the Super League era.
“This has not been an easy decision for myself or my family, but it’s time for us to return home,” he said on Wednesday.
“We made a decision a little while ago due to personal factors that have played their part in our decision. The timing has also combined with an opportunity that has arisen in Australia.
“I have been here for three years and I have loved every minute of it. I love the club and what it has provided for both me and my family.”
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