Trent Robinson says Sandon Smith “of course” remains part of the Sydney Roosters’ long-term plans despite the coach’s eyebrow-raising call to preference Chad Townsend for an NRL recall.
Townsend, 34, will face former side Cronulla on Friday for his first NRL game since round five as the Roosters begin a short stint without injured rookie playmaker Hugo Savala (wrist).
Smith and Savala have been the Roosters’ halves pairing for the majority of a solid season while the club waited for first-choice halfback Sam Walker to recover from knee and thumb injuries.
When Savala pulled up sore from last week’s win over St George Illawarra, Smith appeared the likeliest man to play next to Walker for the newly-fit halfback’s second game of 2025.
Sandon Smith kicks. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
But Robinson said he and Smith have had two conversations in which the coach has told the 22-year-old junior product he must improve before he can return to the top flight.
“We’ve had them after the last game and then again on Monday arvo,” he said.
“There’s been some good footy, but we really want that combination and being able to nail your role in the combinations around you.
“I know Sandon can play better.”
Smith is contracted until the end of next season so could begin negotiating with rival clubs for 2027 in November.
If the Roosters were to sign Daly Cherry-Evans as expected, he would fall further down the pecking next season, seemingly the fourth-choice half behind Walker, Savala and the mooted recruit.
Robinson would not specify how Smith could improve, but was emphatic when asked whether he was still part of the club’s plans.
“Of course,” he said.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson talks with Sam Walker. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
“I just made it clear on what he’s got to do and what he’s got to do in reserve grade and what we’re expecting of him.”
Robinson said his halves decision was also about rewarding premiership winner Townsend, brought to the Roosters this year to help nurture the young halves.
“It’s really nice when you tell a 280-odd gamer that he’s playing again, the passion and the joy that’s in someone’s eyes when you tell them that,” Robinson said.
“His character has been incredible during this period of time, his support and his coaching of the other guys and his energy that goes to reserve grade, it’s quite rare.
“He’s a real student of the game. He’s one of the only players that’ll take home the stats package and study the game on his computer at home. He’s a footy nerd.
“He deserves his chance.”
Robinson expected Walker would improve over the coming weeks after a hot-and-cold performance against the Dragons, his first NRL game in more than 300 days.
“He has got a lot to go. It was great to have him back, he’s good energy,” Robinson said.
“He’ll start to build those combinations every minute that he plays, every training session he has with them.”
Johns slams ‘complete mess’ Knights
Immortal halfback Andrew Johns has slammed the Knights over what he calls “junior mismanagement and recruitment blunders that stretch back 20 years”.
Newcastle are on the verge of saying goodbye to their highest-paid star in Kalyn Ponga and sacking their coach Adam O’Brien, both of them two years out from the end of their contracts.
Johns, who was the lynchpin of the club’s only two premierships in 1997 and 2001, said Ponga was entitled to make a switch to rugby with the Knights set to enter yet another rebuild.
“Putting it politely, it’s a complete mess,” Johns wrote in his Sydney Morning Herald column.
“If Kalyn requests a release from the last two years of his contract, I say goodbye, good luck and thank you for your service to the Knights.
“The cold, hard fact is he won’t win a premiership at Newcastle. Several senior players – Leo Thompson, Jackson Hastings, Jayden Brailey, Adam Elliott and Jack Hetherington – are going to follow Daniel Saifiti out the door and another rebuild looms.
“He is a phenomenal, freakish athlete and probably deserves to be on the world stage that rugby can offer. If he truly wants to go to rugby, it’s time to let him go.”
Johns said O’Brien had “done a good job under extreme pressure in a league-mad town” to get the team to the finals in four of his six years at the helm “but he has been let down terribly by instability around him”.
He pointed to the fact that the club has churned through Troy Pezet, Alex McKinnon, Clint Zammit, Adam Doyle and now Peter O’Sullivan as recruitment chiefs since 2018 and that they have failed to cash in on their vast junior nursery.
Johns believes the club needs to go back to the mantra that was set in their foundation year of 1988 that players “had to be tough, you had to be able to tackle, and you had to have plenty of tomorrows – meaning you had a future ahead of you”.
“The Knights are a development club, built from within because they just can’t compete with richer, more powerful rivals.”
Ponga, about whom rumours of a switch to rugby union have swirled around the NRL world in recent days, took to Instagram reaffirming his commitment to the Knights.
“Committed to the end of 2027. Excited about the vision of the club. Appreciate those that support me!” he wrote on Instagram.
Kalyn Ponga. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
Phins want to lock Herbie down long term
The Dolphins will make re-signing star centre Herbie Farnworth a priority as they prepare to cope with a shocking injury toll against North Queensland.
Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf confirmed the club’s intention to keep the England international beyond 2026 with the 26-year-old expected to be a prime target of Perth and both rugby league and union clubs.
Farnworth said recently he was looking forward to playing against the Bears, not for them in 2027.
On Tuesday he added that he had no interest in a cross-code switch and intended to stay at the Dolphins for “a long, long time”.
Players of his calibre are rare and while he is set to be in demand, Woolf made it clear the Dolphins had the funds and intention to keep Farnworth long term.
“It’s a priority of ours,” Woolf said.
“I like what Herbie brings. I love his personality and presence around the group and him as a player.
“He’s a guy we want to be a Dolphin going forward and build the team around.
Herbie Farnworth. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
“He’s playing his best footy and the great thing about Herbie is he’s got improvement left in him. He’s still on an upward track.
“It gets to a point where you almost expect that every week. He comes up with a big play every week … a line break or offload.”
The 10th-placed Dolphins have eight forwards and two star backs – Kodi Nikorima and Jack Bostock – on the injured list and will give former North Queensland and Canberra prop Peter Hola a club debut off the bench on Thursday night at Suncorp Stadium against the Cowboys (12th).
“Pete Hola is a guy who really impressed me in the pre-season,” Woolf said.
“He’s a guy we wanted to see in the trials and unfortunately 10 minutes into his first trial he got a pec injury.
“I’ve kept an eye on him since then and he’s been one of the most dominant props in the Queensland Cup.”
Prop Aublix Tawha will also play just his fourth NRL match, and start.
The Dolphins get Queensland fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow back after he was rested for last week’s loss to Cronulla.
with AAP
