A low scoring game. Multiple sin bins. Early penalty goals. Joseph Suaalii running around at fullback. No, it’s not the 2025 Wallabies, it’s the first half of the Sydney Roosters’ 28-20 win over Parramatta.
The biggest ticket in town was the chance to watch Suaalii in action, and those tuning in to see why Rugby Australia shelled out so much cash were given a bonus when the 19-year-old was shifted to fullback, the position he has been signed to play in union.
They would have also been baffled by how he ended up there: James Tedesco, the best fullback in the world in either code, was laid out by a high, late shoulder from Eels winger Bailey Simonsson.
Teddy was taken off with a concussion and will miss the next 11 days, but the Parra man got just ten minutes. It has been a red card in rugby union for years, and should have been here as well. He will get more from the Match review Panel, for all that is worth after the fact. Will Penisini had already been binned for an earlier professional foul.
Beyond that, it was a strange performance from the Roosters, who dealt with Parramatta with ease at times, but put the cue in the rack early and ended up worrying their way through the last five minutes.
Parra were shorn of pack leader Junior Paulo – binned for a high shot and later suspended last week – and were always an outside hope without their main man. The Eels move to 1-4, a record that belies how well they have actually played at times. Again, this was a gutsy, committed performance for which they get nothing.
“Not a lot of luck is going our way at the moment, but we can change that,” said coach Brad Arthur.
“But we are hanging in there and I was really happy with how they kept fighting. I thought our scramble was really good.
“We just have to stay in it and keep fighting hard and it is going to turn and we have just got to make sure we are ready to go when it does.
“We have played some pretty good teams and I feel like our effort and attitude the first five rounds this year is better than last year.
“It’s where we finished last year with our effort and attitude that’s where we have picked up, but we just have to get on top of some football things and as soon as we do that we will be right.”
The boy wonder has been in the news, if you hadn’t noticed, and didn’t disappoint on his first appearance since signing a $1.6m deal with Rugby Australia. All eyes were on the 19-year-old, and he didn’t disappoint.
Following Tedesco’s head knock and Joey Manu’s suspension, Suaalii got to play fullback for the Roosters and showed what he can do in the role.
He sat Mitchell Moses on his backside with a picture perfect sidestep after just 13 minutes, laid two tries through classic fullback handling and took hard carry after hard carry in the high-stepping style that has impressed throughout the World Cup.
Suaalii in full flight is undeniably one of the great sights of rugby league and, in all likelihood, will be in rugby union as well. But there’s still plenty of work to do here.
Passes went behind their target more than once when either of Teddy or Manu would have nailed it. Defensively, there are serious issues though one suspects that those skills will hardly be tested in union.
There was a half chance late in the first half for Parramatta where a kick went one way and the fullback went the other. Fortunately for the Roosters, the ball went dead.
“You can burn a lot of energy thinking about stuff in a week like that, but he had a lot of energy tonight so he didn’t burn it thinking about external stuff,” said Trent Robinson.
“He was able to handle that. He’s going to have to learn how to handle that, and I thought that energy was there. To go from centre to fullback, know the role of that position and continue to the end was a credit to him.
“I thought he did outstandingly well. Some guys get stunned in that position, but he played a lot. Left, right and through the middle. He looked really comfortable there. He had to get control of our line right away and he did a great job.
Every fullback meeting we do, he’s there. He’s trying to learn that left centre role but he’s always ready to learn the fullback role and we didn’t miss a beat there.”
Parramatta’s great yarn of the week has concerned Clint Gutherson and his position in the team. It’s been a bit of a storm in a teacup: the Eels ask Gutho if he’d mind if they tried to find another fullback, seen as they only have one, and he said fine.
Anyone who doubts that Gutherson is the best fullback the Eels have would do well to watch this game. He pulled off a magical trysaver on Victor Radley, then was in his best backing up form to score their opening try.
Gutho isn’t quite on the tier of the three more elite number ones – Tedesco, Trbojevic and Trell – but he’s not far behind and what he lacks in ‘x factor’, as Parra called it, he makes up in sheer commitment, nous and leadership. They discard him at your peril.
His contribution set the tone for the Eels. His effort to stop Radley proved contagious: Moses made a copybook legs tackle to stop Daniel Tupou and Dylan Brown did the same on the other side to deny Hutchinson. Without those interventions, this would have been done by half time.
Not much went right for Parra, who were battered in possession and field position. It was partly their own doing, through two sin bins and a raft of set restarts, early in the second half, that saw an incredible 15 consecutive tackles on their line before it was eventually breached.
The late rally helped make the scoreline look better, and the big out in the front row excuse this loss to a champion team. Just try telling that to Brad Arthur, however.
On the day Suaalii made his second appearance in men’s rugby league in early 2021, playing for North Sydney Bears against South Sydney, the media box at Homebush was much busier than might be expected for a NSW Cup tie.
They came to see the future, and they got it. Sam Walker ran the show. He was in the big leagues mere weeks later and has remained
The halfback chalked up appearance number 50 here and it’s hard to believe that he’s just 20: it feels like he’s been around forever.
He was playing the hits from the start, with three harbour bridge passes in the first half – one left, two right – and a superb combination, heads up moment that sawa him combine with new hooker Brandon Smith and old stager Luke Keary for the best try of the night.
Walker is so seamless at this level, so able to impact games at such a young age and so fearless in always trying to make something happen that it’s barely believable that he’s still 20.
His defence, long the bugbear of Roosters fans, has improved too. The kid is going to be some player. He already is.
One of the week’s talking points around the big move was proven true tonight: there is a well of Joseph Suaaliis to which the sport can continually return.
Few might have expected Jaxson Paulo to be one of them, but on the balance of the four games we have seen this year so far, he has far outshone his more celebrated teammate.
Souths were happy to see the back of him late last year and he couldn’t even get picked for the Samoa squad that Suaalii dominated, but that extra offseason training has really paid off. The kid has been a revelation.
Tonight, he offered the hard backfield carries that he has always had, but also deftness of touch to put Drew Hutchinson in for the opener and deliver multiple offloads, as well as the finishing instinct to get himself over from Suaalii’s smart pass.
TJ
Roar Rookie
He's been the Roosters best so far this season. He needed to step up with Taukeiaho leaving and so far he's done a great job.
astro
Roar Rookie
The stand-out Rooster for me last night, was Lindsay Collins. He had a blinder...Played 60mins, 58 post-contact meters (most in the team), average play-the-ball speed under 3secs, 3 offloads and no missed tackles. He and JWH were great. Set up the win for the Roosters, I think.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
All true but you've got virtually no chance of any side beating a well organized spine with 12 men (especially outside backs) for a quarter of it. Junior P. has almost become the heart of this team and from the first run of the game (JWH) things looked ominously negative.
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
A slight correction - I don't believe Tedesco is automatically out for 11 days as it was classified as Cat 2. As for the game. The Roosters controlled the ruck on defence in the first half and the Eels couldn't move the ball as a result. It was pretty much as simple as that. The weekly Josh Hodgson rants become easier and easier to make. His lateral movement in defence is awful (3 line breaks up the middle in the first half and he was the inside defender on all of them). Even the Tupou try, he wasn't directly at fault, but the entire 12 man Eels got off the line except for Hodgson forcing them to delay shifting right (where they were already one short with a sin bin). The only thing Hodgson managed to do, was get in Gutherson's way as he tried to push across behind the line. Even his front on defence. If there was a defensive stat for negative yards after contract, Hodgson and his big biceps would be last by a long way. As for attack. Well he actually ran it from dummy half for once.. except it was down a stacked blind side and on the last tackle and no one in his team knew what he was doing. It was no surprise that Brown and Moses (particularly Brown on the left side) had more space to step and run once Hodgson came off. So serious question: Who is playing worse Luke Brooks, or Josh Hodgson? I know the answer, but one poor bloke is getting bollocks'ed every week and the guy who is playing worse, just continues to slide under the radar.
TimtheSoutherner
Roar Rookie
Great article Mike. The comment that Teddy is the best fullback across both rugby codes is an interesting one. Tedesco is a truly world class attacking/running style player, no question. To say he is the best in both codes is a long bow to draw... how would Teddy go with the increased emphasis on tactical awareness, control and kicking that a Union fullback must combine with said attacking attributes? I see many similarities in the running/attacking style of Tedesco with the Ireland fullback Hugo Kennan, however with the aforementioned tactical awareness, game management responsibilities and skillset. I reckon Keenan would be the current standout fullback across both codes worldwide, and could easily make it as a league fullback. Will Jordan of the All Blacks is another that comes to mind that may even be a superior running/attacking style player to Teddy. Horses for courses, I guess, anyway it will be interesting (and hopefully entertaining to us!) to see how Sualii lives up to his potential, irrespective of what code he ends up in longer term.
Robbo
Roar Rookie
Two very good teams - a great game - suggest Eels were fatigued earlier and the Roosters were in the sheds late. Best game I've seen Sua'ali play
Ja ja klazo
Roar Rookie
This is probably the main takeaway from this game, that little combo and for the second game in row, Smith causing havoc from a quick PTB. When you consider the outs the roosters had at that point, in particular Teddy, Manu, Lodge and Crichton. this is a team that will look to get teams on tilt by slamming them through the middle, before pulling them apart with smart work from their 9, 7 and 6 and expert support runners in the outside backs.
Gus O
Roar Rookie
That roosters try just before half time, with Smith/Walker/Keary combining through the middle was gold. This combo already working in Round 5 to give the Roosters additional attacking threat … and without involvement from Teddy because he was already off with HIA. With Keary looking better than we have seen him for two years or more, at full strength the 2023 Roosters look a formidable team.