According to Verbal Kint in The Usual Suspects, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he did not exist.
Kevin Spacey’s credibility these days isn’t what it used to be but it’s unwise to disagree with Keyser Söze (spoiler alert for a 1995 movie).
Irrespective, the greatest trick the Roosters might have pulled on the NRL world was convincing them that they are not a title threat in 2025.
Roosters coach Trent Robinson gets a perverse satisfaction out of dragging his team higher than expected on the ladder when they have one of those years where they cop a heavy injury toll.
It happened in 2020 when Boyd Cordner, Jake Friend, Luke Keary, Lindsay Collins and Brett Morris all suffered serious injuries early in the season.
Cordner, Friend and Morris were forced into early retirement but the Tricolors still ended up finishing fifth on the ladder and made it through to the second round of the playoffs against the odds.
That year Robinson put his faith in a teenage halfback called Sam Walker who played with maturity beyond his years to show that he was going to live up to the hype that had carried him through the junior representative ranks.
This year, the Roosters started the season in the worst possible fashion when they copped a 50-14 flogging from the Broncos.
When they upset Penrith the following week, 38-32, it was seen as a blip on the radar for the premiers but also little credence was put into the Roosters’ victory considering they would be without Walker and Brandon Smith for most of the year and other injuries were piling up.
And when they went down to the Warriors, Titans and Rabbitohs to have a 1-4 record after five weeks, the possibility of the club’s first wooden spoon since 2009 could not be ruled out.
But they have won six of their past nine games, losing only to the vengeful Panthers, Canterbury and Canberra to achieve a respectable 7-7 record and rise to sixth spot on the ladder heading into Round 18.
The Broncos are one win ahead of them and the fourth-placed Warriors are a further two points in front but Brisbane still need to find the consistency that has eluded them all season and the Auckland team is likely to go backwards in the closing rounds with Mitch Barnett and Luke Metcalf gone for the year and Charnze-Nicoll-Klokstad to miss the next month with a knee injury.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
While Brandon Smith has seen the writing on the wall and joined the Rabbitohs, Walker is due back in a fortnight after his original NRL return from knee surgery last month was delayed by a broken thumb mishap at training.
The Roosters have a golden opportunity over the next three weeks to really start knocking on the door of the top four with the Wests Tigers on a six-game losing streak heading into Sunday’s clash at Allianz Stadium before they take on the Dragons at Kogarah and the sinking Sharks.
They face the Storm twice and Canterbury in the run into the finals but with the rest of their opponents below them on the ladder, the Tricolours are well placed to snare fourth spot and the all-important second chance in the finals as no team has won the comp from fifth spot or lower since the Dogs three decades ago.
Apart from the impending comeback from Walker, what should give the Roosters and their fans plenty of reason for optimism is the way in which Robinson has thrown rookies into the fire and they have handled the heat for the most part like seasoned veterans.
Hugo Savala has been a revelation at halfback since he replaced veteran recruit Chad Townsend in the No.7 jersey.
At 1.94 metres, he is easily the tallest halfback in the NRL, possibly of all time, and he will likely end up in the centres or back row, but he has been undaunted by the prospect of playmaking duties alongside Sandon Smith.
Their combination has been a major factor in the Roosters keeping their head above water in the playoff race.
While technically not a rookie cross-code convert, Mark Nawaqanitawase has been yet another astute signing by the Roosters.
Mark Nawaqanitawase. (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
At the start of the season with the former Wallabies flyer, plus Dominic Young and Daniel Tupou on the books, the club looked like they would need to make a tough decision.
Roosters can’t have three wings – it’s against nature – and Young was excised mid-season so he could return to the Knights where a guaranteed starting spot awaited the English international.
Nawaqanitawase Mark has scored 12 tries in 13 appearances this season to not only rise above Young in the pecking order, but show that if he sticks with league he is on track to become a dual international potentially as early as the end of this year.
Young centre Robert Toia should end up with the NRL Rookie of the Year award after he not only was elevated to the Queensland side after just 10 NRL games but has performed above expectations for the Maroons after being handed the difficult task of marking Latrell Mitchell.
Highly rated young winger Tom Rodwell will fill in out wide for Toia this Sunday with Nawaqanitawase switched to centre.
Robinson has walked the fine line of developing young prospects without bottoming out as most clubs need to do when they rebuild their roster.
Given that they lost more than 850 games’ worth of NRL experience at the end of last season when Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Keary, Joey Manu, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Sitil Tupouniua flew the coop, it’s remarkable that the Roosters are in the playoff picture half a season later.
Most clubs would need two or three years before getting back in the playoff hunt after that loss of talent.
Robinson keeps rolling rookies off the production line with young forwards Blake Steep, Salesi Foketi and Taylor Losalu, and hooker Benaiah Ioelu to be joined this Sunday by Rodwell, Max McCathie and De Le Salle Va’a.
The regeneration at the Roosters has had a positive effect on Robinson himself.
James Tedesco. (Photo by Scott Gardiner/Getty Images)
Over the past couple of years, the three-time premiership winning coach has looked fatigued and crankier than usual as his team has repeatedly been a class above most of the competition but not in the same league as Penrith and the Storm after winning just once in 20 matches against the two competition heavyweights this decade.
But the way in which his new-look side has thrived on fresh blood has also restored pep to his rosy red cheeks.
And there has been a flow-on effect with the veterans in the team, particularly captain James Tedesco, who – after going close to winning the Dally M Medal last year – is firming as the frontrunner after Metcalf’s season-ending ACL tear.
Once they have Walker back in the No.7 jersey, his return will give them a late-season jolt after the Origin period that no other team has looming on the horizon.
With six or seven games to get the match fit before the playoffs, he perhaps has sufficient time to recapture the form that he was displaying 12 months ago when he was one of the most influential players in the NRL.
So if anyone tells you that the Roosters won’t again be one of the usual suspects in the hunt for the title, that kind of verbal is not to be trusted.
