Sydney Roosters veteran Jake Friend’s retirement bombshell

Repeated concussions are threatening the playing future of Jake Friend, who may have donned the Roosters jersey for the last time.

Sydney Roosters co-captain Jake Friend will reportedly meet with club officials on Tuesday to determine whether he is medically fit to continue playing in the NRL.

The 264-game veteran has suffered three concussions in his last six starts, the most recent of which forced him from the field in the Roosters’ opening game of the season.

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The 31-year-old has not played since, with Freddy Lussick slotting into the number nine jersey in his absence.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Friend feels that he would be letting his team down by retiring.

Jake Friend with fellow Roosters Lindsay Collins and Boyd Cordner.

“We will sit down with Jake at the end of this week or early next to nut out of the process and what we are going to do,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said in late March.

“He is feeling normal, and he did not long after, but there is obviously a history that we have to go over to make sure that we get it right.”

Speaking on Fox League, Friend’s former Roosters teammate Cooper Cronk suspected Friend was considering retirement.

“There’s no doubt Jake Friend has his life set up outside of football,” Cronk said on Saturday afternoon.

“He just had his first son the other week … he’s got a cafe, he’s got a plumbing business.

“He’s just achieved a couple of Grand Finals, played Origin for the first time – to have football potentially take it away from you through injury is going to be really tough mental battle to dissect and get through to the right decision.

“Once you get to fatherhood and you start taking in consideration other people more important than you thank your football life, I think that can play a part in that decision.

“But he’ll definitely sit down with the people close to him and make that decision.”

Penrith Panthers great Greg Alexander elaborated: “This is what the modern day footballer will wrestle with – whether you honour the future or the present.

“Do you keep playing because you’re not going to worry about what happens down the track, or do you worry about how you’re going to be in 20-30 years and stop playing? That’s the dilemma that players face.”

Friend isn’t the only high-profile Rooster facing that dilemma — the club have opted to rest Boyd Cordner for the opening rounds of the season in the hope that a break from football will allow him to recover from his own repeated concussions.