‘He’s tough as nails’: Teammates hope Billy Smith will return later this year if they can make the grand final

The Roosters will head to Melbourne without four of their top outside backs after a young star became the latest player to be ruled out.

The Roosters have been rocked by another injury to an outside back with scans confirming Billy Smith has a fractured jaw. Picture: Matt King/Getty Images

The Roosters are set to be without 80 per cent of their first-choice backline after Billy Smith was ruled out of Friday’s semi-final against the Storm with a broken jaw.

Smith suffered the injury just 70 seconds into the second half of Saturday’s pulsating win over the Sharks when he collected a shoulder to the head from Tom Hazelton.

The luckless centre had his jaw checked out by the club’s medical staff but stayed on the field and ended up kicking the first goal of his NRL career to make it 12-all in the second half.

Daniel Tupou, Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Joseph Manu will all miss the trip to Melbourne. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

The club confirmed the bad news on Monday afternoon, with Smith joining Daniel Tupou (knee), Joseph Manu (hamstring) and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii (concussion) in an already heaving casualty ward.

It leaves skipper James Tedesco as the last man standing in what should be one of the best backlines in the competition, with the veteran fullback full of praise for his young teammate having suffered a similar injury in 2016 when Ryan James whacked him across the jaw.

“It’s pretty tough to do what he did to get through the game,” Tedesco said.

“He copped a knock and I could see it wasn’t great for him, and even after the game he was pretty sore.

“I think he knew it was going to be something there. I’m disappointed for him because he’s been awesome for us and he’s gotten better and better every week.”

The latest setback continues a long run of injuries for Smith who has played more games this season than the other three years combined.

“We’ve always said that we just need to get him on the field so he can show what he can do, and he’s definitely done that this year,” Tedesco said of Smith who has stopped drinking and adopted a strict diet this year to look after his body.

“He’s been one of the form centres and he’s going to get better and better.

“It’s just a setback for him and he’s definitely had worse injuries and worse recoveries.

“That just shows the mentality of him, and I feel like that’s the mentality of the team that we’ll do whatever it takes to get the job done.

“To be able to play through that with a broken jaw is unbelievable.”

Billy Smith has had a horrible history of injuries, but James Tedesco is confident he’ll be back bigger and better. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

Roosters lock Victor Radley is one of the toughest guys in the NRL and hasn’t ruled out a shock Smith comeback if they can beat the Storm and then Penrith to qualify for the grand final.

“He’ll be right. He’s tough as nails,” he said.

“We’re going to go after it this week, and no doubt he’ll probably be a chance of coming back this year.

“I know him pretty well and he’s not going to leave it to chance.

“No one knew. He got smacked in the jaw and he would have had a sore jaw, but he just got on with it.

“He kicked a goal for us to draw up the game and he played an outstanding game. He’s a weapon.”

With Smith out, the Roosters are likely to have Junior Pauga and Jaxson Paulo on the wings, with Corey Allan and Drew Hutchison set to start in the centres for the trip to Melbourne.