‘Players are off’: Rumblings Roosters coach has lost the dressing room
There are rumours out of the Roosters that threaten to tear the perennial powerhouses apart after a horror year for the club so far.
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The are rumblings at the Roosters with players becoming increasingly frustrated with coach Trent Robinson, according to reports.
The Roosters have massively underperformed in 2023 and after starting the season as premiership favourites they now look set to miss the finals.
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Former Tricolours star Braith Anasta pointed to high-profile recruit Brandon Smith and halves Luke Keary and Sam Walker failing to fire.
“The Brandon Smith experiment didn’t work to start the season off, they had two halves play similar styles,” Anasta said on NRL 360.
“All the experts are asking how are they going to get better and where are they going wrong?
“They’re in such a hole that I don’t think there’s too many answers right now. Trent Robinson doesn’t have the answers and he’s one of the best coaches to ever coach.”
James Hooper then said there were reported issues between “some of the playing group and Trent Robinson” before Anasta read out the report.
“If you listen to the whispers, some players are off the coach, off each other. It feels like the Roosters are on the brink and it will take all of Robinson’s nous to turn them around. Talent has never been the issue, suddenly commitment is,” Anasta read out the article from Brent Read.
“That’s big,” Anasta said.
“The Roosters pride themselves on resilience and being tough every week and I suppose that does come down to leadership doesn’t it.”
But Gorden Tallis said there was nothing to see here.
“The only reason we’re hearing this is because they’re losing. It happens at winning clubs too but it gets overshadowed because they’re winning games,” Tallis said.
“Smith hasn’t played good, Keary hasn’t played good, Tedesco is going to go down as one of the greats, but they haven’t played good. They just haven’t been able to drive the team forward. The spine is not steering them around the park.”
However, Michael Carayannis pointed out a difference between now and the last time the Roosters were struggling in 2016 when they finished 15th.
“The interesting thing is last time they missed the finals there was no noise,” he said.
“There was massive noise. They almost got the spoon. The rumblings were the joint was all over the shop,” Hooper hit back.
Carayannis doubled downed and said “There were no rumblings at all” before Hooper conceded some ground.
“You might have got something right, there were no rumblings about the coach and I don’t think there are rumblings about Trent Robinson now,” Hooper said.
“I think the reports are off the mark. I’ve been to enough of their games and training sessions, I think they are united but they’re struggling to put their finger on exactly where it’s all breaking down.”
Tallis then interjected with: “They always buy their way out (of trouble). They bought SBW and then Cooper Cronk so how do they fix this.”
“They probably are missing one key commitment player,” Hooper conceded.
Originally published as ‘Players are off’: Rumblings Roosters coach has lost the dressing room
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