Victor Radley: ‘I’d pass the ball to Keary before Coops’

Just how good has Luke Keary’s form been through three weeks of footy? Well, according to the Roosters new makeshift hooker, Victor Radley, so strong he’d brush the game’s best playmaker to get Keary the pill.

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So if Cooper Cronk and Luke Keary both demand the Steeden simultaneously this Thursday night, who does one pass it to?

“Ah, I throw it to Keary,” makeshift hooker Victor Radley reveals, grinning.

And why?

“Have you watched the last two weeks of footy?” the 21-year-old cackles. “The guy's a freak.”

Only 31 games into his NRL life and already Radley is proving himself the most obvious replacement for one of rugby league's most tireless warriors — Roosters No. 9 and captain, Jake Friend.

Luke Keary and Victor Radley are two of the best young talents in the game. Picture: AAP

Against Parramatta last Friday night, Friend was forced from the field shortly before halftime after suffering a recurrence of the shoulder injury that also sidelined him a week earlier.

The initial diagnosis is that Friend could miss up to another fortnight of footy, meaning the reigning premiers are without that on field leader who inspires constantly, errs rarely and churns through up to 60 tackles a game.

Enter Radley.

Apart from having already determined the great Cronk/Keary conundrum, the young Rooster has also spent the past fortnight switching out of backrow and into dummy-half when Friend has been absent.

Better, Radley has already told coach Trent Robinson that, should the skipper again be sidelined come Thursday Night Football, he wants to play the full 80 minutes against Brisbane at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

But as for saying he can replicate Friend?

“I'm not going to replicate how Jake plays,” Radley concedes. “I can't do it, simple as that.

“We watch 'Nugs' in video and the amount of work he does in attack and defence, he rarely puts a ball wrong when he passes and in defence makes about 60 tackles.

“He works so hard.

Cooper Cronk and Victor Radley share a laugh at training. Picture: Phil Hillyard

“So I'm not going to say I'll get to where he does for us, but I will get the job done.

“I'll play the way I play and get the ball out in front of everyone who wants it.”

But no 60 tackles in defence?

“I don't even know how he makes that many,” Radley concedes. “That's what we're always saying to him, ‘how do you make 60 tackles in a game?’.

“But he finds a way.

“I'm not sure what he does. He must put himself towards the ball on every single play … he's a beast.”

Radley replaces the injured Jake Friend. Picture: Getty

Radley added that while he wasn't a natural nine, it was the position that has effectively earned him his starts in SG Ball, U/20s, Junior Kangaroos, even first grade.

"So that versatility has got me opportunities," he said. "Even in SG Ball when I was a year young, I got my first shot playing off the bench in that hooker, lock, middle backrower role.

"I've worked hard on those positions and practised both.

"And I'm stoked they've really taught me the art of both because they've given me so many opportunities."