Opinion
Four games, eight ACLs. What have the Roosters done to upset rugby league gods?
Andrew Webster
Chief Sports WriterNobody was more heartbroken on Sunday night than Brandon Smith.
When the Roosters hooker was helped from the field with a knee injury in the first half against Canberra after an alleged hip-drop tackle from Elliott Whitehead, he didn’t look like a player whose season was over.
He wasn’t in tears like his halfback, Sam Walker, who had broken down earlier in the match after hearing a pop: the dreaded noise that indicates a blown anterior cruciate ligament.
Smith’s tears came later that evening, when scans confirmed he’d suffered the same injury. It hasn’t just ended his season, but possibly that of the Roosters, too.
Smith was dropped in June after months of erratic off-field behaviour. He’d lost the trust of his teammates and the support of the club’s rather powerful powerbrokers.
In the months since, though, he’s started to turn his life around, and it’s been reflected in his football. Those early darts out of dummy-half against the Raiders were those of a player brimming with confidence again.
Brandon Smith is assisted from the field.Credit: Getty Images
Such is the cruelty of sport, Smith now faces a nine-to-12-month recovery just like Walker, whose injury comes in the middle of delicate contract negotiations.
The Roosters scoffed in July when the Walker camp asked for roughly $1.5 million a season for the 22-year-old, but over the past few weeks the two parties have been inching closer to a resolution. In fact, it was hoped a new deal could have been inked as early as this week.
Now, Walker has lost significant bargaining power. Talks have been put on ice as he begins the long rehabilitation of his knee.
Add back-rower Victor Radley to the injury list after he suffered a crushed scapula, as well as Nat Butcher, who failed his Head Injury Assessment, and you start to wonder what the Roosters have done to upset the rugby league gods.
Sam Walker is helped off the field after suffering a ruptured ACL against Canberra.Credit: NRL Photos
Quite unbelievably, this was the fourth time since 2020 that two Roosters players have suffered torn ACLs in the same match.
In 2020, their chances of a premiership three-peat were torched when Radley and Sam Verrills suffered the injury against the Dragons.
In 2021, Brett Morris and Lindsay Collins blew their ACLs against the Knights midway through the season — and just months after Luke Keary had done his in round two.
In 2022, luckless centre Billy Smith felt his knee buckle against the Dragons and played on for 20 minutes knowing he had suffered his third torn ACL at the age of just 22. Smith managed to give Sitili Tupouniua a quick cuddle when his teammate was carted off with his own ACL rupture, before leaving the ground before fulltime.
The Roosters are single-handedly keeping orthopaedic surgeons in business. Like they need the money.
Even before Smith and Radley left the field, commentators were speculating about whether the Roosters could win the premiership without Walker.
The expectation is that Connor Watson will replace Smith, Siua Wong comes in for Radley and Sandon Smith lines up in the halves with Keary, although some argue coach Trent Robinson should return to the previous experiment of using Joey Manu as a big, running five-eighth.
It has merit. The Roosters are at their best when they’re trucking the ball up through the middle, not relying on intricate backline plays.
Their attack looked clunky against the Raiders while their forwards were dominated for most of the match. Some of their players tired, others like Spencer Leniu haven’t been as dominant since State of Origin.
Ricky Stuart loves nothing more than getting one over his former club and, much like Wayne Bennett and the Dolphins against Brisbane the previous night, his side came to play.
Is the Roosters’ season over? If you removed the starting halfback, hooker and an international back-rower from any side, you’d immediately run a red line through them.
But this club has too much pride, and too much depth, to be discounted.
Much of the responsibility falls on Keary, whose pinpoint kick for winger Daniel Tupou secured the try that almost forced the match into golden point. He’ll be spurred on by the fact his NRL career is nearing its conclusion.
Remember, this finals series supposed to be a farewell tour for the Roosters with Keary (Catalans), Joey Manu (Japanese rugby), Joseph Suaalii (Australian rugby) and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (Hull KR) all departing.
A week ago, the Roosters felt comfortable with how they were building. They hadn’t been hit too hard with the Injury Stick.
Then Sunday happened.
This NRL season is starting to resemble the Hunger Games, with the fittest and not necessarily the best likely to win it.
Penrith have their troubles with halfback Nathan Cleary, you wince every time Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen touches the ball and the Sharks have only just welcomed back Nicho Hynes.
The game has become so fast, and the players so physically strong and agile and athletic, that something eventually must give – and that something is a bone, muscle … or an ACL.
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