{"id":63529,"date":"2025-08-12T21:50:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/63529\/"},"modified":"2025-08-12T21:50:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T21:50:08","slug":"transfer-battle-for-sandon-smith-heats-up-with-fresh-suitor-nrl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/63529\/","title":{"rendered":"Transfer battle for Sandon Smith heats up with fresh suitor – NRL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than 48 hours after reports emerged that Sandon Smith<\/a> had been granted permission to leave the Sydney Roosters<\/a>, the utility playmaker has caught the interest of a fresh new suitor.<\/p>\n

Previously seen as\u00a0Luke Keary<\/a>‘s apparent heir after the veteran playmaker’s departure at the end of 2024, Smith began the season in the club’s halves and was set to be Sam Walker<\/a>‘s long-term halves partner, but has since been overtaken in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

Only 22, he is destined to have a long career in the NRL<\/a> and is set to attract a ton of interest after being given the green light to leave the club if he finds a new deal elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Already linked to the Canberra Raiders<\/a> and North Queensland Cowboys<\/a>, the Newcastle Knights<\/a> have become the latest club to express an interest in the 2025 Anzac Day Medal winner.<\/p>\n

It is understood that the Parramatta Eels<\/a> were also in the mix for his signature earlier in the season but decided in June to exit the race<\/a> to focus on other options such as Dean Hawkins<\/a>, Joash Papalii<\/a> and 2025 NSWRL SG Ball Cup<\/a> Player of the Year Lorenzo Talataina.<\/p>\n

RELATED >>\u00a0Top FIVE potential landing spots for Sandon Smith<\/a><\/p>\n

“I’m told Peter O’Sullivan [Head of Recruitment] of the Newcastle Knights<\/a> has come in late with a very very good offer,” The Daily Telegraph’s\u00a0Buzz Rothfield said on\u00a0Triple M’s NRL Daily.<\/a><\/p>\n

“He can play halfback, he can play five-eighth and they also seem as potentially a hooker.”<\/p>\n

\"NRLSYDNEY, AUSTRALIA – MARCH 14: Sandon Smith<\/a> directing the attack during the round two NRL<\/a> match between Penrith Panthers<\/a> and Sydney Roosters<\/a> at CommBank Stadium, on March 14, 2025, in Sydney, Australia<\/a>. (Photo by Joshua Davis\/Zero Digital Sports)<\/p>\n

A move to the Knights would likely see him slot in the dummy-half role with multiple sources telling\u00a0Zero Tackle\u00a0that Phoenix Crossland<\/a> will be used as a lock heading into the future.<\/p>\n

Although he is contracted until the end of the 2026\u00a0NRL<\/a> season, Smith has found himself on the outer at the Roosters since the club expressed an interest in Manly Sea Eagles<\/a> captain Daly Cherry-Evans<\/a> and the emergence of Hugo Savala<\/a>, who has overtaken him in the pecking order.<\/p>\n

Whilst not official, it has been all but confirmed that Cherry-Evans will arrive at Bondi alongside\u00a0NSW\u00a0<\/a>Blues<\/a>\u00a0hooker\u00a0Reece Robson<\/a>\u00a0in 2026, creating a formidable spine with\u00a0James Tedesco<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Sam Walker<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than 48 hours after reports emerged that Sandon Smith had been granted permission to leave the Sydney…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-63529","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\/63529","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=63529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}