Luke Keary on track to recover from broken jaw and play in Roosters round one Tigers clash

BOYD Cordner has revealed Luke Keary is on track to play in the Sydney Roosters’ opening round clash against Wests Tigers and has welcomed their latest recruit Kurt Baptiste.

• EARLY MAIL: Predicted round 1 teams for NRL 2018

BOYD Cordner has revealed Luke Keary is on track to play in the Sydney Roosters’ opening round clash against Wests Tigers on Saturday after a weekend spent training while his teammates relaxed.

Recovering from a broken jaw suffered in pre-season training, Keary is expected to make his return after missing the Roosters’ trial match win over Manly in Gosford.

While Cordner said he wasn’t certain Keary would play, the signs were positive.

“He is still being managed. I honestly don’t know,” Cordner said.

“I heard he has been training pretty good.

“I heard he did a bit of stuff over the weekend while we had a bit of time off.

“He is on track.

“I don’t know what their plans are for him.

Luke Keary is set for a round one return. Picture: Brett Costello

“Hopefully it is to play round one and he is sweet.”

Mitch Cornish partnered Cooper Cronk in the halves in the match in Gosford and Cordner said if Keary wasn’t available for round one Cornish would not let anyone down.

“He has been really good,” Cordner said.

“Honestly, he has been training the house down.

“He is really sharp.

“I think he has got a lot of confidence out of playing a bit of a role last year and he is going to be really good for us throughout the year.”

While the Roosters are premiership favourites, Cordner said the Tigers demand respect.

“They have recruited really well over the off-season,” Cordner said.

“They have a really handy team with a lot of experience. They will be pushing a lot of teams all the way.

Luke Keary had a breakout season for the Roosters last year after struggling with the Rabbitohs since his 2014 premiership win. Picture: Brett Costello

“We are under no illusion of having their coach (Ivan Cleary) having a full pre-season.”

Meanwhile, Cordner has welcomed the signing of former Canberra hooker Kurt Baptiste to the Sydney Roosters.

While the Roosters yet to make the deal official, English Super League club Leigh has put out a statement confirming Baptise is Bondi bound.

The 26-year-old former Canberra hooker only played one game for Leigh but has been released effective immediately.

Cordner arrived at training this morning to be greeted by the news that Baptise has been signed as a back-up to Jake Friend.

“He is an awesome player,” Cordner said.

“I heard that the Raiders didn’t want to really let him go but for salary cap reasons they had to.

“I have always had a massive rap on Kurt and the way he plays.

“He is going to be a massive addition for us.”