Million-dollar war chest: The stars Roosters could target \u2014 including a Broncos gun<\/a><\/p>\nTom Trbojevic will start the season at fullback, where he won a Dally M Medal. Picture: NRL ImagerySource: Supplied<\/p>\n
FORMER BRONCOS PRODIGY SUFFERS INJURY SETBACK AT RAIDERS<\/p>\n
Raiders recruit Coby Black has suffered a setback, with a nerve issue in his neck potentially denying the former boom Bronco the chance to start the season with his new club.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s understood the 19-year-old halfback copped the injury during a contact session in his first week training with the Raiders last December.<\/p>\n
While MRI scans have confirmed there is no fracture, it has weakened movement in one of his arms, preventing the young playmaker taking part in any further contact sessions throughout the pre-season.<\/p>\n
Black was expected to compete with fellow rookie Ethan Sanders for the No.7 jumper following the departure of Jamal Fogarty.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear when Black will be fit to return to playing.<\/p>\n
Although he is still said to have some chance of starting the season, it sounds extremely unlikely that will be the case.<\/p>\n
Black has still been able to stay running and he\u2019s in good enough health to have a game of golf scheduled with coach Ricky Stuart this Sunday.<\/p>\n
Coby Black in Canberra colours. Picture: Raiders InstagramSource: Supplied<\/p>\n
FROM UNWANTED TIGER TO SOUTHS\u2019 SAVIOUR<\/p>\n
The big story emerging at South Sydney this year won\u2019t be Latrell Mitchell moving from fullback to centre, because that\u2019s a given.<\/p>\n
But the story no one is talking about is the fight for the No.7 jumper.<\/p>\n
And make no mistake, Jayden \u2018Bud\u2019 Sullivan is not only a contender for the job, but the front-runner to start the season playing alongside Cody Walker in the halves.<\/p>\n
With Jamie Humphreys serving a two-match suspension for a hip drop tackle against the Roosters in the final round of the regular season, it\u2019s opened the door for the unwanted former Tiger to become the Rabbitohs\u2019 saviour.<\/p>\n
The other two in the fight are the gutsy Ashton Ward and Dragons recruit Jonah Glover.<\/p>\n
Bennett has been impressed with what he\u2019s seen from Glover during pre-season, while Ward showed last year he\u2019s as tough as nails and has a heart as big as himself.<\/p>\n
But the fact is Sullivan has experience on his side, and he has also earned Bennett\u2019s trust, with the super coach convinced the 24-year-old is a far better footballer than many give him credit for.<\/p>\n
‘He’s in good shape for how old he is’ | 10:50<\/p>\n
While Sullivan has had an interrupted pre-season after undergoing surgery over the Christmas break to clean up a nasty infection in his leg (the result of an operation last season), he was back running this week and is racing the clock to be fit to start the season.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s hard to believe when Sullivan was at the Tigers they couldn\u2019t hunt him out the door fast enough, and as a result the Tigers were prepared to carry a huge chunk of Sullivan\u2019s salary.<\/p>\n
It gave Souths the chance to sign Sullivan on a bargain deal, before Sullivan earned a two-year extension to take him through until the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
The irony is it was a suspension to Englishman Lewis Dodd last year during pre-season that opened the door for Humphreys to start the season in the No.7 jersey.<\/p>\n
Now a ban to Humphreys has opened the door for Sullivan.<\/p>\n
As for Latrell\u2019s future, it appears certain he will make the shift into the centres to accommodate the rise of Jye Gray at fullback.<\/p>\n
It makes for a red-hot Rabbitohs\u2019 backline with Mitchell and Jack Wighton in the centres, and Alex Johnston and Campbell Graham on the wings.<\/p>\n
Jayden Sullivan is set to start as Rabbitohs halfback.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
BIG RECRUIT FIFITA DROPS A STACK OF WEIGHT<\/p>\n
Across the park there is a belief the Rabbitohs are ready for a big year.<\/p>\n
And big David Fifita is doing all he can to shed the tag as the NRL\u2019s laziest forward.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m told the former Titan has dropped about 5kg since his arrival.<\/p>\n
There is going to be plenty of expectation on Fifita this year given his reputation for not reaching his potential on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n
But you won\u2019t hear a negative word at Souths given his attitude so far.<\/p>\n
Tevita Tatola is another who has dumped a stack of weight.<\/p>\n
Not that Tatola was ever overweight, but he\u2019s busted a gut to make sure he\u2019s in the best shape of his career after an injury-plagued 2025.<\/p>\n
Rabbitohs recruit David Fifita has slimmed down.Source: Supplied Source Known<\/p>\n
YOUNG GUN PUTS MANLY HALVES ON NOTICE<\/p>\n
Other mail coming out of the northern beaches is that Manly\u2019s young gun Joey Walsh is putting serious heat on experienced playmakers Luke Brooks and Jamal Fogarty after an impressive pre-season.<\/p>\n
And the NRL\u2019s new six-man bench will almost guarantee the 19-year-old a place in the top squad on a regular basis regardless of whether Walsh is in the starting team.<\/p>\n
While it\u2019s too early to say if Walsh is ready to claim a starting spot, the pressure of having him sitting on the bench each week will hopefully also bring out the best in Brooks and Fogarty.<\/p>\n
This time last year the former rugby schoolboy sensation was struck down by glandular fever which limited him to only 15 games in 2025.<\/p>\n
But Walsh was so impressive that he ultimately made his NRL debut off the bench in the final round against the Warriors.<\/p>\n
Giant teenage front-rower Simi Laiafi is another who has been training the house down in a bid to bulldoze his way into the Sea Eagles\u2019 top squad.<\/p>\n
Laiafi was also selected as 18th man for the final round against the Warriors to give him extra motivation coming into the new season.<\/p>\n
The Sea Eagles are also boosted by the fact Taniela Paseka has fully recovered from his ruptured Achilles suffered in round three last year, and Paseka will also take part in Friday\u2019s scrimmage session against the Dragons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The debate that has been raging all summer over Tom Trbojevic\u2019s future in Manly\u2019s starting team has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4558,8082,64,63,689,224856,5084,1653,224853,12732,4509,224643,4516,224260,676,224859,2485,224854,115359,4578,4518,4415,4580,14872,4590,29043,1082,4459,4601,224261,124380,677,11396,701,11368,7291,224855,224254,224262,224860,4439,85,59137,51611,224858,224857,224861,1651,555,9020,35829],"class_list":["post-428838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-alex-johnston","tag-anthony-seibold","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-broncos-prodigy","tag-campbell-graham","tag-cody-walker","tag-custodian-role","tag-dan-ginnane","tag-david-fifita","tag-elite-company","tag-ethan-sanders","tag-fan-day","tag-final-round","tag-giant-teenage-front-rower","tag-gold-coast","tag-halves-surprise","tag-injury-setback","tag-jack-wighton","tag-jamal-fogarty","tag-james-tedesco","tag-jamie-humphreys","tag-jayden-sullivan","tag-joey-walsh","tag-jonah-glover","tag-latrell-mitchell","tag-luke-brooks","tag-manly-sea-eagles","tag-million-dollar-war-chest","tag-nerve-issue","tag-oceania","tag-paul-crawley","tag-queensland","tag-regular-season","tag-ricky-stuart","tag-rugby-schoolboy-sensation","tag-rugby-signings","tag-rugby-signings-shake","tag-scrimmage-session","tag-south-sydney-rabbitohs","tag-sports","tag-starting-team","tag-superstar-fullback","tag-tom-trbojevic-manly-sea-eagles","tag-top-squad","tag-two-match-suspension","tag-wayne-bennett","tag-weight-loss","tag-young-gun","tag-young-playmaker"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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