The Roosters have named to start Sam Walker this weekend and if the half plays as expected, it’ll cap a remarkable recovery. However, there are some concerns.
The Panthers will have Nathan Cleary on deck this Sunday against the Knights but a foot issue is set to hamper him which could have a bearing on who will line up beside him in the halves.
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Meanwhile, there have been reports the Roosters aren’t happy with having to deal with an unwanted 15-year finals first… but is there a solution?
Read on for all of the talking points ahead of the 2026 preliminary final week!
WHY ROOSTERS ARE REPORTEDLY ‘FUMING’ AHEAD OF BLOCKBUSTER
For the second finals game in as many weeks, the Roosters will face a six-day turnaround between games … and it hasn’t left the club too impressed.
The SMH reported this week that the Roosters aren’t happy with the way their finals timetable has turned out.
With the NRL keen to avoid the AFL grand final this Saturday, the Roosters will play the Dolphins in Brisbane on Friday night, six days after the Chooks eliminated Cronulla at home.
It’s the first time in 15 years that a club has had to play two straight finals games off six-day spells.
On the flip side, the Roosters will have two days’ extra rest than their grand final opponent IF they beat the Dolphins this weekend.
Still, it appears the club would’ve loved a little more of a reprieve between taxing finals games, especially given their star half Sam Walker is racing the clock to make a remarkable return from a syndesmosis injury he suffered not even four weeks ago.
“There are reports that the Roosters are privately fuming with another six-day turnaround. Is it a problem or issue?” former Roosters star Braith Anasta put to the NRL360 panel on Tuesday night.
“It is the first time it’s ever happened in 15 years. Whether they change anything, it is unusual. It hasn’t happened for a long time.”
“It’s finals time. What do you do, forfeit?” journalist Paul Crawley replied.
“It might never have happened before, I’m not sure, with these six day turnarounds but it is what it is.
“When I see these sort of stories I see it a little bit like when Origin is on, Queensland come up with an injury. A red herring.”
The Daily Telegraph’s Dave Riccio noted that six-day turnarounds are commonplace during the season.
“We’re about to watch three of the great injury comebacks to get onto a football field. Not just Sam Walker but Isaah Yeo and Nathan Cleary. As far as recovering froma game, six days is fair enough,” Riccio said on NRL360.
“What do you do? It happens in season. I appreciate what’s on the line but it happens in season.”
“Complaining is going to get you nowhere at this time of the year,” Anasta added.
“Just get on with it.”
The Roosters are reportedly miffed at playing two straight finals off six-day breaks.Source: News Corp Australia
WHY CLEARY CHAOS COULD LEAD TO LATE PANTHERS SWITCH
The Panthers made a curious decision to name Jack Cole as five-eighth alongside Nathan Cleary for this weekend’s final against the Knights.
It’s no secret that Cleary isn’t at 100% after suffering a foot injury a fortnight ago and for that reason, NRL360 host Braith Anasta believes Penrith will pull a late line up switch before kick off.
Cleary is expected to play through the pain of a stress-related bone issue in his foot but it’s going to limit him.
His kicking especially will suffer, which is why Anasta says all roads point to Jack Cogger being parachuted into the line up at the expense of Cole.
“Cogger is on the bench, do we think this happens or do Penrith make a late change? I think it sets up for a late change,” Anasta said before detailing why.
“We don’t know the severity of it (Cleary’s injury) so it’s hard to talk about it. I’ve played with a stress fracture and it’s not good. It’s hard to kick and it’s painful.
“It’s very irritating and painful and it could definitely impact the goalkicking or any kicking in general.
“It’s right on the navicular (bone), which is the top of your foot where you kick the ball.”
According to journalist Dave Riccio, Cleary and the Panthers are pulling out all the stops in order to improve his condition before kick off.
“The bottom line is he’s been undergoing 24/7 intense physio, hyperbaric chambers hardly any running and deloading as much as he can.
However, Anasta wonders if it’ll be of much help given the “irritating” nature of the injury.
“A stress fracture in the foot takes time. Physio does nothing. I’m telling you, he may be a tiny bit better than he was but it’s something that doesn’t get better for a month or two. It’s annoying and irritating,” Anasta said.
“Cleary won’t be kicking as much as he normally does … and there’s a genuine chance that Nathan doesn’t finish the game,” Riccio responded.
Cleary does a lot of things well and if he isn’t at 100%, it’s a big blow for Penrith.
However, Cogger can relieve some of the kicking pressure off Cleary in a way that Cole can’t.
Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters believes Cogger’s skillset will benefit Penrith greatly if Cleary is limited.
“His experience having played with Nathan at the big end of the season game is a big help,” Walters said.
“I think it’s a huge bonus. He’s obviously a very talented player, and the long-range kicking game is part of his skill set, so that’ll be required.
“I’m not sure how Nathan’s foot is how much kicking he can do, but it’s always very advantageous for teams when you’ve got two good kickers of the ball.
“It’s a huge advantage for the Panthers to have that on their side.”
Cleary cleared for prelim | 00:31
IS SAM WALKER A RISK AGAINST THE DOLPHINS’ SPEED?
Trent Robinson has wasted no time installing Sam Walker into the starting side for this week’s preliminary final against the Dolphins, but is he a risk?
Walker looks to have completed a miracle recovery from syndesmosis surgery.
He’s come back just four weeks after injuring the ankle against the Dolphins.
It’s the equal fastest time a player has made a comeback from the injury, which often takes at least 10 weeks to fully recover from.
But has Walker been rushed back too early?
Could he be a liability in a game that’s expected to be full of intensity and speed?
The Dolphins are stacked with players that keep you on your toes.
Will Walker be able to move well enough to stop the likes of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Jamayne Isaako, Jack Bostock, Herbie Farnworth and Selwyn Cobbo when they’re in full flight?
The panel on NRL 360 discussed Walker’s probable inclusion in the team earlier in the week and journalist Dean Ritchie backed Walker’s recall, arguing the Roosters’ rehab “is the best in the game” and that Walker won’t be back unless he’s 100 per cent fit.
Fellow journalist Brent Read said the Roosters wouldn’t name Walker unless they were certain he could handle the pace of a high-stakes preliminary final.
“The Roosters are pretty sensible in the way they go about treating injuries. I don’t imagine they’ll rush him in. They don’t have to rush him back in, do they? The way they played on the weekend they don’t have to race him back into the side,” he said.
Read was adamant that the Roosters couldn’t win the title once Walker went down injured and they lost four-straight without him before last week’s win over Cronulla.
But the Dolphins are going much better than the Sharks and Read believes Walker’s inclusion is a must if the men from Bondi are to progress to the grand final.
Is it a risk from the Roosters bringing Sam Walker back so soon?Source: News Corp Australia
“I would rush him back because he’s that good of a footballer. You’re talking about a bloke you’re willing to pay $1.2 million a year to. Those sort of guys you bring straight in,” Read said.
Walker’s inclusion in the starting side, however, has forced last week’s five-eighth Hugo Savala to the interchange bench.
Speaking on NRL Tonight this week, former Test prop Steve Roach believes Robinson should keep Savala in the starting side and allow Walker to come on when a bit of pace comes out of the game.
“I’d play him off the bench. I always look at the team I’m playing against. They have got strike, the Dolphins. I think Savala is a better defender,” Roach said.
“I would start with him. I wouldn’t muck the side around. If he’s fit to play, I’d start Walker off the bench.”
Many were surprised when teams came out of Tuesday afternoon to see Savala on the bench and not back in the centres.
Robinson has kept Billy Smith in the No. 3 jersey which means he’ll likely mark NSW Origin outside back Jack Bostock, who is having a career season at the Dolphins.
Host Braith Anasta said on NRL 360 that it’s something the Dolphins might try and exploit.
“Billy worries me in defence. He’s been caught out a couple of times in the last few weeks,” Anasta said.
“He does have an error in him and a high shot as well. I don’t want to take too much away from Billy because he’s done a great job when he’s been there, but I think Savala would be better, safer, more reliable and he deserves it.”
Ritchie, however, backed Robinson to let Smith play in his preferred position.
Savala’s first choice spot in the halves.
“I just think Billy is a pure centre whereas Hugo is a manufactured centre. That’s my only concern,” Ritchie said.
“One thing they do when they win a comp” | 07:36
TWO THINGS BARGAIN BUY SMITH NEEDS TO IMPROVE AGAINST PENRITH
Sandon Smith has been a revelation at the Knights and despite not getting the limelight that another back-up halfback has been getting, he’s an equal chance to get to a grand final.
Daly Cherry-Evans has been getting all the headlines filling in for Sam Walker at No. 7 for the Roosters, but Smith has also taken over from his team’s first-choice half Dylan Brown.
Since the $13 million signing Brown went down with an ACL injury in Round 21, Smith has taken over the running of the team and while he’s on decent money ($500,000 a season), he’s playing a role reserved for a player on much more.
Perth Bears assistant coach Ben Gardiner spoke on NRL Tonight this week and had nothing but praise for Smith, saying he has been showing all the composure you’d like to see out of a halfback.
Gardiner loved the way Smith not only directed traffic on the win over the Warriors on Sunday, but put his body on the line against the big boppers late in the game.
“He’s been an amazing buy. I think one of the great things about Sandon was his defensive game was really on. His goalkicking won the game … one from almost the sideline. But it was his defensive effort that really cut it for me. He really stood up in that area. It hasn’t been his best thing all year but he really stood up in the big games,” Gardiner said.
But the test is about to get tougher for Smith.
The underrated Sandon Smith has been a crucial cog to the Knights’ success this season.Source: Supplied
This weekend when he runs out against the Panthers, he’ll take on the world’s best halfback in Nathan Cleary.
The four-time premiership-winner often kills opposition teams with his boot, strangling them and not giving them any clear air as they work the ball out of their own end.
Gardiner says Smith needs to put more pressure on the Penrith back three this week if the Knights are to defend their try line at the opposite end of the field.
“I think for them to compete this week against the Panthers they really need to nail the depth of the kicking game,” Gardiner said.
“I really felt kicks were coming down around the 15 or 20-metre mark (against the Warriors). They weren’t playing that territory game that they should have been playing and I think to win the game this weekend they really need to nail it into the corner so they can back their defence.”
Earlier this month, former Knights coach Michael Hagan told foxsports.com.au that Brown’s injury in Round 21 gave Smith enough time to work on his game at halfback.
“Sandon Smith is more than capable of running the team. I think he’s been quite instrumental,” Hagan said.
Smith also needs to run the ball more against Penrith. He only had four runs last week for 32 metres.
‘Closest we’ve been to our community’ | 03:38
THE WOOLF FACTOR
There is little doubt Kristian Woolf has exceeded expectations since taking charge of the Dolphins.
And former NRL star Tim Mannah believes the signs were there long before he arrived in the NRL to take over from Wayne Bennett.
Speaking on Fox League’s NRL Tonight, Mannah revealed he had heard glowing reports about Woolf from a number of Tongan players – the national team he coaches – with the respect they had for him immediately standing out.
“I remember speaking to the Tongan boys early on, before Kristian came to the NRL scene and the respect and the way they spoke about him,” Mannah said.
“I hadn’t heard many coaches spoken of like that, so I always kept an eye on him because I knew he would go places. He’s really delivered on the expectations.”
That belief has been vindicated by what Woolf has been able to achieve at the Dolphins who are now one victory away from reaching their maiden grand final.
And they have done it without boasting the same star power as the other three teams left in the finals race, something Mannah was quick to point out.
“With all due respect to the Dolphins side. They don’t have the team on paper that other teams have,” he added.
“But they’ve managed to be a dominant side and put themselves in a position where they are one game away from the grand final.”
Mannah also credited Wayne Bennett, who helped lay down the foundations and played a major role in the Dolphins’ remarkable rise.
This included them winning their first-ever NRL match against the Sydney Roosters back in 2023.
“You talk about doing your apprenticeship and I thought this was a Wayne Bennett masterclass,” he continued.
“Wayne loves these occasions and the scene was set for Wayne to deliver one of the biggest upsets we’ve seen up and to that point.
“I think the players that are still there would get so much value out of that. They’ve got so much enthusiasm against a team.
“Put them in an arena like this with their momentum, and they can do anything.”