By Dan Walsh
At the end of 2022, New Zealand’s World Cup campaign was based in Leeds, not far from where Donald Bradman once rewrote the record books with 309 runs in a single day.
Joey Manu was churning out the same Bradman-esque numbers he’s now posting every time he plays fullback.
The quiet tip out of the Kiwis’ camp, though, was that his fellow spine members were struggling to work out how best to work with and around the Roosters running man, with Manu typically immense in a controversial 16-14 semi-final loss to the Kangaroos.
Frustration wasn’t the word then or now, it was more New Zealand coming to terms how best to use a fullback so prolific that Andrew Johns wondered if there were two of him playing against the Knights last week.
Trent Robinson won’t shift James Tedesco from the back to accommodate Manu for a couple of very good reasons: Tedesco’s influence extends well beyond the numbers, and so does Manu’s. Manu’s triple century of run metres last Thursday against Newcastle doesn’t reflect the fact there are two sides to every rugby league game.
If Tedesco isn’t the NRL’s best defensive fullback, he’s at least been on the podium for the past five years. Manu is also one of the game’s soundest defensive centres, learning plenty from the Morris twins, Josh and Brett, during their stints at Moore Park.
The numbers don’t reflect Tedesco’s status as a revered leader in the game, either. And nowhere is that more evident than at the Roosters.
Excluding a 22-minute stint against the Bulldogs, when his game was cut short by a heavy concussion, Tedesco’s numbers this year reflect a return to the sterling form that began in the back half of 2023.
Still, Robinson gets to wrestle with the same question the Kiwis once did because there’s just no denying it – Manu is twice as dangerous when he’s roaming the paddock at fullback than he is at centre.
So how do the Roosters best work with and around him while keeping him at centre?
“He’s a completely different fullback to Teddy, and it suited them [the Roosters in their clash with Newcastle]; they played out of dummy half with that power game,” Johns said, with Manu and Brandon Smith’s influence last Thursday looming large in the memory, especially in Victor Radley’s first-half try.
“Teddy can do that, too, but you can construct sets where you have two fullbacks around the ruck and play through the middle. Manu’s a bit like Stephen Crichton at Canterbury. He’s too good a player to be sitting on an edge.”
Robinson had little interest in entertaining a clumsy question before Thursday’s clash against Melbourne that was meant to point towards getting the best out of Tedesco and Manu in the same back line.
The phrasing had his back up, weary of the criticism Tedesco has worn for 12 months.
“I think about the Australian, NSW and a premiership-winning fullback – what does he bring to the game? Watch the game,” Robinson bristled.
The Roosters have used Manu the centre as an attacking focal point more and more throughout his career. His 16 possessions a game are more than most NRL centres.
The 20-plus touches he often registers at centre these days can be more than double his involvement in 2017 and 2018. Manu has spoken previously about a roaming role, similar to Tom Trbojevic in State of Origin, because “sometimes in the centres you can go missing when it’s not your game”.
The idea of Manu doing so from the wing rather than centre was entertained by Bryan Fletcher and Matty Johns on SEN radio this week. It is unlikely to say the least, but not without merit.
Flitting in and out of attacking structure from the wing has less impact on a team’s structure, and Robinson swapped Anthony Minichiello and Roger Tuivasa-Sheck between the roles when he first took charge of the club.
How the Roosters bring Manu into every game is a tactical conundrum their 16 rivals would love to have, and one Robinson spoke about with Manu’s move to Japanese rugby in 2025 and 2026 now confirmed.
“It’s late to go and make a big splash in the market,” was his summation of the free agency landscape, where Zac Lomax is off to Parramatta and Penrith’s Sunia Turuva shapes as the best off-contract outside back. Brisbane’s Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo lead the next crop available after 2025.
Internally, the club has high hopes for Queensland under-19s centre Robert Toia, while Billy Smith remains luckless with injury.
“But you can’t downplay losing Joey Manu,” Robinson said.
“There’s not anyone who can just walk in and do that role. I’m not sure whether he’ll be back here or not. I’d like him to be … but there’s definitely nothing there about him returning.
“Otherwise, I’d be a little bit happier right now.”
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