{"id":593728,"date":"2026-04-08T16:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593728\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T16:20:23","slug":"connor-watson-set-to-leave-sydney-roosters-potential-next-clubs-state-of-origin-utility-contract-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/593728\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor Watson set to leave Sydney Roosters, potential next clubs, State of Origin utility contract, future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connor Watson<\/a>‘s second stint at the Sydney Roosters<\/a> looks set to come to a premature end, with the State of Origin utility given permission to leave the club.<\/p>\n

The 29-year-old started his career with the Tricolours a decade ago before spending four years with Newcastle and then returning to Bondi in 2022.<\/p>\n

Watson has since gone on to become a representative player, shifting into a ball-playing utility forward and spending the majority of last season at hooker for the Roosters.<\/p>\n

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However, with the arrival of Reece Robson<\/a> on a long-term deal and Watson off-contract at the end of next season, Roosters officials have opened the floodgates.<\/p>\n

\"Connor<\/p>\n

Connor Watson.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“He’s been given permission to negotiate with other clubs, despite being on contract until the end of next year,” reporter Zac Bailey said on 9News Sydney.<\/p>\n

“Roosters have basically said to him ‘if you can go out and get a long-term deal on good money, we won’t stand in your way’.<\/p>\n

“They believe with Reece Robson coming, they’ve got the best out of Connor Watson.”<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watson has already been linked with the Manly Sea Eagles<\/a>, who could look to pounce quickly and add some much-needed spark and class through the middle.<\/p>\n

The other likely front-runners to sign Watson for 2026 and beyond would be expansion team the Perth Bears<\/a>, who have yet to attract a current Origin star.<\/p>\n

Mal Meninga<\/a> is desperate for a marquee acquisition and bringing in a player of Watson’s calibre would automatically boost the Bears’ roster for their inaugural season and he could fill either the hooker or lock-forward role with ease.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Perth Bears head coach Mal Meninga.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

St George Illawarra have been dismal to start the season and need to strike on the open market, but are well-stocked at hooker and lock moving forward.<\/p>\n

The smokies could be the Bulldogs, who were linked with Watson a few years ago before he ultimately re-signed with the Roosters fresh off an ACL injury.<\/p>\n

Watson would fit the mould of Cameron Ciraldo’s team, with the coach known for using smaller, faster and more skilful players around the ruck. <\/p>\n

Phil Gould<\/a> has tinkered plenty with Canterbury’s roster in recent years and is never far away from discussions with available, high-end talent.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cameron Ciraldo and Phil Gould.\u00a0Canterbury Bulldogs<\/p>\n

Cronulla are also set to make some big roster calls over the next six months<\/a> with a large contingent of their roster facing uncertain futures and there’s no doubt Craig Fitzgibbon could benefit from having Watson’s skillset at his disposal.<\/p>\n

If he can’t find a suitable long-term home for next season, Watson is still signed with the Roosters and then could potentially turn his attention to the PNG Chiefs for 2028<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At this stage, the Roosters and Watson have not publicly commented on his situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Watson‘s second stint at the Sydney Roosters looks set to come to a premature end, with the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":593729,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-593728","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593728","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=593728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/593729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=593728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=593728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=593728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}