The real reason behind Terrell May’s Roosters exit revealed as State of Origin call up looms
The real reason for Terrell May’s shock exit at the Roosters can be revealed as the front rower continues to take the NRL by storm.
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The real reason for Terrell May’s shock exit at the Roosters can be revealed and it’s a simple case of cash money - and a club losing control of the narrative.
The Roosters dropped a bombshell last October when coach Trent Robinson called May and told the prop he was free to leave immediately, despite having signed a two-year extension just six months earlier.
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But the club then tried to play it a little too cute when they let a narrative run that May wasn’t the right cultural fit at Bondi Junction. It was done to avoid backlash from their fans for turfing one the club’s best young players.
May was left stunned at being let go in what he initially thought was a prank call, but the worst was yet to come for the father of two.
The rugby league rumour mill went into overdrive when the keyboard warriors ran with the ‘bad fit’ line and they spread wild lies about May’s off-field behaviour.
Nothing stays secret in rugby league and if any of it had been true it would have come out by now and derailed May’s life.
Instead, he’s lighting up the NRL across town at the Wests Tigers where he’s quickly built a reputation as one of the club’s hardest workers.
The truth is, the Roosters needed to free up some salary cap space to pay other players and they knew May could be off their books in a matter of days due to his contract situation.
Last April, May wanted to repay the faith the Tricolours had shown in him when they handed him a career lifeline after he’d quit the game at just 21.
So Penrith junior re-signed on unders, penning a two-year deal until the end of 2026 worth $475,000 per season.
Fast forward to November 1 last year and the Roosters knew May wouldn’t have any trouble picking up a better deal. They were right.
A few weeks after receiving Robinson’s bolt-from-the-blue phone call, May signed a three-year deal with the Tigers worth $2 million.
It took over a month but Robinson eventually spoke out to deny May was shown the door for culture reasons.
“He’s not a bad character, he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Robinson said.
“He was a value-add for our group but there’s just some small bits there around how we want to play.
“We felt like it was time to move in a different direction and express that to Terrell. But the difficult thing is that people have questioned his character and that shouldn’t be the case.”
Despite those comments, the parties haven’t spoken since.
You only have to look at May’s form this season to know how badly the Roosters got this one wrong.
May is playing like a man possessed and it can be revealed he made it his mission to play State of Origin this year the minute he signed with the Tigers.
It wasn’t to prove the Roosters wrong but rather because Tigers coach Benji Marshall promised him a starting spot and May then knew he’d have the minutes to build a case to NSW selectors.
We touched base with the Fox Sports Lab and on the numbers alone, he’ll be one of the first picked in Laurie Daley’s squad.
Among middle forwards in the NRL, May ranks third in average run metres (148m) behind Payne Haas and Addin Fonua-Blake.
He ranks equal-first in offloads and fourth in tackle busts behind Haas, Fonua-Blake and Stefano Utoikamanu.
May has a 93.4 per cent tackle efficiency while being just one of two non-hookers, alongside Siua Wong, to attempt 300 tackles this season.
You can expect him to pull on a Blues jumper in a few weeks.
Originally published as The real reason behind Terrell May’s Roosters exit revealed as State of Origin call up looms
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