Roosters make inquiries about playing rising star Joseph Suaalii before his 18th birthday next year
Not content with finally landing the player many are tipping to be the next NRL superstar, the Roosters are now seeking permission to unleash him on Manly in round one.
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Sydney Roosters recruit Joseph Suaalii could be playing NRL by the opening round of 2021 if a bid to have the schoolboy debut at 17 proves successful.
News Corp can reveal Roosters officials have already approached NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo about playing Suaalii next season before his 18th birthday in August.
With James Tedesco locked in as fullback at Bondi Junction, the Kings School prodigy will most likely start his career on the wing.
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Under new regulations introduced by ARLC chairman Peter V’landys this year, players can now debut in the NRL before turning 18 if they receive special dispensation from the Commission.
The ruling replaces a previous stipulation which stated no player under the age of 18 was allowed to play in the first grade competition.
It was under this ruling that a handful of breakout teenagers were kept from debuting in the NRL early, among them Newcastle centre Bradman Best.
Back in 2019, Best was forced to wait until after his 18th birthday in August before playing in the top grade, despite Knights officials having wanted him to make the leap at 17.
Abdo confirmed on Wednesday the Roosters had already made inquiries about playing Suaalii in first grade early next year.
The request comes after South Sydney finally released the gifted fullback for a fee, believed to be $50,000.
As part of the Roosters submission to the ARLC, they will need to prove Suaalii is both physically and mentally ready for the challenges of regular NRL football.
“They (the Roosters) have made inquiries,’’ Abdo said.
“But we have received nothing as yet. We’ve told the Roosters that the Commission will judge each case on its merits and given them a list of questions, asking them to tell us why this particular player is ready to play NRL.
“Not only physically, but his wellbeing program, the plans for his studies, the holistic development program and assessment from the coach and so on.
“If we receive that information, the commission will then look at it and see if an exemption is made based on age.”
Rated rugby league’s most exciting teenage prospect in a decade, Suaalii will join the Roosters immediately and begin pre-season training from Monday.
There has been suggestions he will start out on a $60,000 development contract — with substantial upgrades for the following two seasons – however there is also talk of him going straight onto a larger NRL deal.
Under V’landys’ reign, the NRL has moved to overhaul a number rules to create more flexibility and agility, particularly during the COVID crisis.
Should the Roosters submission be granted, Suaalii could debut in the season opener against Manly at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday, March 13.
The Rabbitohs, meanwhile, are now on the verge of announcing a new three-year contract for superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell.
Interestingly, the deal is worth $800,000 a season – the identical amount he knocked back at the Roosters this time last year.
The Roosters had rejected outright a proposal from the Rabbitohs to include representative winger Daniel Tupou in a player swap for Suaalii. Souths eventually accepted the compensation package to bring the messy saga to an end.
Suaalii was so highly thought of in rugby circles that Wallabies coach Dave Rennie made a special visit to see the young star when he first took on the national role, to sell him on the merits of staying in the 15-man code.
‘Better than SBW’: How Roosters snared Souths young gun
Roosters supremo Nick Politis has landed his next Sonny Bill Williams, with breakout teen Joseph Suaalii rated athletically superior to the club’s NRL premiership hero at the same age.
Already considered rugby league’s most exciting prospect in a decade, Suaalii will switch from South Sydney to the Roosters in 2021 after the Bunnies agreed to a $50,000 release fee.
While the Kings School prodigy is still only 17, talk has quickly turned to the possibility of coach Trent Robinson gifting the NRL wannabe a first grade debut next year, most likely on the wing.
Already, the Roosters have sought backing from the ARL Commission to play Suaalii before his 18th birthday in August, with those close to the schoolboy adamant he could handle being catapulted into first grade.
In fact, the teenager’s sprint coach Roger Fabri has labelled Suaalii the athletic equal, or even superior, to both Williams and Jarryd Hayne at the same age.
Fabri also suggested Suaalii was among the top three athletes he has ever worked with, “and that includes my stints with Dallas Cowboys and New York Jets”.
While Hayne debuted for the Parramatta Eels at just 18, Williams was a year older when he first ran out for the Canterbury Bulldogs.
Impressively though, SBW was also a New Zealand Test player that same season, just as Hayne also played for NSW and Australia at 19.
Asked to describe Suaalii, Fabri said: “Absolute specimen.
“I started working with Jarryd Hayne when he was younger than Joseph is now, and Sonny when he was only slightly older.
“And I can tell you that if Joseph isn’t the equal of those two guys, or even slightly better, then I’m a bad judge.
“As for whether he plays NRL next year or not is harder to say.
“But he’s definitely got the X-Factor.
“Even if you include the NFL clubs I’ve worked with, he’s among the top three athletes I’ve seen.”
Fabri has spent all of 2020 working with Suaalii, who now adds his name to a stellar list of players to have switched between the Sydney arch rivals – among them Ron Coote, Elwyn Walters, Luke Keary, Latrell Mitchell, Craig Wing, Angus Crichton, Bryan Fletcher and Terry Fahey.
The popular Sydney sprint coach revealed the pair only held their final session of the year last week, with the rising backline star now taking the shortest of breaks before beginning his Roosters pre-season.
With James Tedesco locked in as the Roosters fullback, Suaalii will most likely start his career on the wing.
As a result, and despite sitting out the entire GPS Rugby season, Suaalii has been working closely with Fabri on both his acceleration – or “first step quickness” – and repeat speed efforts.
“Because Joseph is a tall guy it takes him some time to get going,” Fabri explained. “So we’ve been working on first step quickness to help him create space.
“The other key area is repeat speed, or the ability to make effort, upon effort, upon effort.
“That’s an area, initially, he was poor in. But Joseph’s made some great improvements recently.
“Like Sonny and Jarryd, he has the ability to process information extremely quickly.
“With a lot of young athletes you need to explain things six, seven, even 10 times. But Joseph, he needs only to be told once to go and execute.
“He processes information so quickly, it’s like everyone else around him is on a dial-up modem.”
TEEN GUN EYES OPENER FOR ROOSTERS AS STAND-OFF ENDS
—Phil Rothfield
The South Sydney Rabbitohs have finally relented and released teen sensation Joseph Suaalii to the Sydney Roosters.
The Rabbitohs board on Wednesday morning agreed to a release fee, believed to be $50,000, to end the latest stand-off between rugby league’s two oldest rivals.
Suaalii, the King’s School student who is rated the most exciting teenage prospect in a decade, will join the Roosters immediately to begin training for 2021.
He will start on a development contract worth around $60,000, the same money he was on at the Rabbitohs, but will get substantial upgrades for the following two seasons.
The Roosters will seek permission from the NRL to play the rugby union schoolboy at the beginning of next year, despite him being only 17.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys was considering allowing Suaalii to play before he turned 18, which is the NRL’s minimum age, when approached by the Rabbitohs last year.
That overture from the Roosters’ bitter rivals now help the Tricolours fast-track Suaalii’s ascension to the NRL.
He could debut for the Roosters against Manly in round one at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Saturday, March 13.
He will start training with the Roosters on Monday.
With James Tedesco locked in at fullback, Suaalii will most likely start his career on the wing to learn the ropes at NRL level.
The Rabbitohs are now on the verge of announcing a new three-year contract for superstar fullback Latrell Mitchell.
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Interestingly, the deal is worth $800,000 a season – the identical amount he knocked back at the Roosters – this time last year.
The Roosters had rejected outright a proposal from the Rabbitohs to include representative winger Daniel Tupou in a player swap for Suaalii. Souths eventually accepted the compensation package to bring the messy saga to an end.
Suaalii was so highly thought of in rugby circles that Wallabies coach Dave Rennie made a special visit to see the young star when he first took on the national role, to sell him on the merits of staying in the 15-man code.
That failed and the Roosters are the ultimate beneficiaries.
Originally published as Roosters make inquiries about playing rising star Joseph Suaalii before his 18th birthday next year
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