Regarded as one of the most promising young players in rugby league, Rex Bassingthwaighte has been named on the six-man interchange bench, which could see him potentially make his first-grade debut.<\/p>\n
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Hailing from Dubbo, he joined the Roosters following a stint with the Western Rams in the 2023 Under-16s Andrew Johns Cup after moving away from his home to Sydney to attend SHORE for his final three years of schooling.<\/p>\n
The move proved to be a pivotal one and in his first season with the Roosters he won the club\u2019s Under-17s Harold Matthews Cup Player of the Year award before leading the Roosters to back-to-back titles in the Under-19s SG Ball Cup competition, which saw him named Player of the Match in this year\u2019s grand final.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019d be huge (to make my debut). You grow up wanting to play rugby league and it would be surreal,\u201d Bassingthwaighte told foxsports.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cBeing at this club, such a historical club to be in the Roosters jersey is pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rex Bassingthwaighte in action. Picture: News Sport.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Now living in Newtown with his older brother, Bassingthwaighte was rewarded for his sensational start to his career with the Tricolours with a promotion to the club\u2019s Top 30 roster and a long-term contract until the end of 2028.<\/p>\n
Continually stringing together impressive performances in the lower grades, his tremendous work ethic caught the attention of skipper James Tedesco.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe trained with us in the pre-season last year. Love him. We got along really well (and he\u2019s) a really exciting young player,\u201d Tedesco told foxsports.com.au at the end of last year. <\/p>\n
\u201c(Rex\u2019s) fast, agile, got good hands, and I think he\u2019s going to be a real talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe had shoulder surgery this year, which pulled him out for most of the year. He wasn\u2019t able to play union for his school, but he\u2019ll be doing a pre-season with us next year. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe can fit in anywhere in the backs to sort of start off his career, but fullback definitely for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
Highly rated by the Roosters, he has long been seen as the future successor to Tedesco in the fullback jersey.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt definitely wakes you up, but there\u2019s a lot of good fullbacks at the club pushing for that spot now,\u201d Bassingthwaighte said on the praise from the Roosters skipper.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a historical position at the Roosters. You\u2019ve got Teddy, Mini and all that, so to be told that it\u2019s pretty surreal.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to pinch yourself some days.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery time with him [Tedesco] or around him, it\u2019s pretty cool and surreal some days.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rex Bassingthwaighte during his time at the Western Rams. Picture: SM PhotographySource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
Tedesco wasn\u2019t the only one to offer praise, with Cooper Cronk also impressed by the young fullback\u2019s potential and natural movement across the field, which has allowed him to stand out more than other players coming through the ranks.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look at the pre-season and he\u2019s had some adversity coming back from a shoulder last year where he missed a lot of football, but he moves across the ground really well,\u201d Cronk told foxsports.com.au. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a freedom in fullback when they glide across the ground and tend to find space. That\u2019s an art in itself.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce he gets bigger, fitter, stronger, faster, those gaps will be easy to get through and navigate, but I like the way he moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s obviously a talent, but the way he moves, it looks like there\u2019s something there for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rex Bassingthwaighte was crowned SG Ball player of the match. Picture: News Sport. NSWRL Junior Reps grand finals, SG Ball Cup, Sydney Roosters vs Newcastle Knights, 2 May 2026 at Leichhardt Oval.Source: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
A talented cross-code athlete who was named in the Under-19s NSW Blues squad on Wednesday, Bassingthwaighte could have easily gone down the rugby union route.<\/p>\n
Excelling in both codes throughout his journey years, he was named in the Under-16s Australian Wallabies side, which saw him earn recognition as one of the nation\u2019s brightest prospects in the sport.<\/p>\n
Then, two years later, he was again rewarded with union representative honours after being named in the Under-18s Wallabies squad, having helped guide SHORE School to their first AAGPS Premiership since 2006 the previous season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty hard,\u201d Bassingthwaighte said on the decision to choose league over union.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe stayed up some long nights me and my family but I think when we walked into the Roosters, I\u2019ve always felt at home and Robbo\u2019s such a father figure to everyone.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, obviously, to train first-grade at a young age, I was pretty excited about that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rex Bassingthwaighte scores a try during the match between Australia U18s and New Zealand Schools at FMG Stadium Waikato on October 06, 2024 in Hamilton, New Zealand. (Photo by Fiona Goodall\/Getty Images for Rugby Australia)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Like most players, Bassingthwaighte\u2019s journey and rise to the top has not been without his own fair share of setbacks.<\/p>\n
In 2025, he had to undergo shoulder reconstruction, which stalled his momentum at a crucial stage of development and ruled him out of selection for either the Australian Schoolboys rugby league or union squads.<\/p>\n
But rather than derailing his progress, the injury gave him a new perspective on sport, with renewed focus and determination.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was pretty hard, but you\u2019ve always got to stay positive,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the end of the world. There\u2019s a lot of other bad things happening in the world so just to being injured wasn\u2019t too bad.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut it gave me some time to work on my body and get bigger so it\u2019s all right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rex Bassingthwaighte and his brother Leo. Picture: Julian AndrewsSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
His inclusion on the bench comes as Cody Ramsey has been shifted to fullback to replace James Tedesco, who is currently on Origin duties for the NSW Blues.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Tommy Talau and Egan Butcher enter the starting side with Reece Foley moving to the centres and Hugo Savala transitioning into the halves.<\/p>\n
Robert Toia (QLD), Mark Nawaqanitawase (NSW) and Sam Walker (QLD) are also unavailable alongside forwards Reece Robson (NSW), Lindsay Collins (QLD) and Victor Radley (NSW).<\/p>\n
\u201cRex has come down from Dubbo and been on our radar for a while,\u201d Roosters head coach Trent Robinson added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s got a free spirit about him, but he\u2019s also really gone after moments through the junior grades. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe saw that in the SG Ball, we\u2019ve seen that in reserve grade, so it was good to put him on that bench, and I\u2019m looking forward to see if he gets that opportunity. <\/p>\n
Rex Bassingthwaighte makes a blistering run from the back. Picture: Julian AndrewsSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see when someone\u2019s going to be a first-grader, and it\u2019s time to give some of those guys an opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe guys that you\u2019ll see play, they\u2019ve been in our squad, they train every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe train with about 38 players, and we\u2019re a really close crew. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd some of those players that don\u2019t get to play as often get to play tomorrow, and that\u2019s a great thing for a club. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe love these weeks. The possibility is really high, and you want to see someone take that opportunity that they\u2019re going to get.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sydney Roosters will be without seven State of Origin representatives when they face the Dolphins on Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729182,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-729181","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\/729181","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=729181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}