{"id":873296,"date":"2026-08-30T01:42:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T01:42:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873296\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T01:42:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T01:42:15","slug":"sam-walker-injury-roosters-star-ruled-out-for-the-rest-of-the-2026-nrl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873296\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Walker injury: Roosters star ruled out for the rest of the 2026 NRL season"},"content":{"rendered":"

August 30, 2026 \u2014 9:51am<\/p>\n

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Roosters star Sam Walker is set to undergo ankle surgery that will almost certainly end his season.<\/p>\n

Scan results revealed that Walker suffered a high-grade syndesmosis strain in Saturday\u2019s 26-12 loss to the Dolphins<\/a> and requires a corrective operation to his ankle, potentially as early as Monday.<\/p>\n

Walker was sent for scans on Saturday night after he was collected in an awkward collision with Dolphins back-rower Kulikefu Finefeuiaki, with follow-up consultations on Sunday morning confirming the club\u2019s worst fears.<\/p>\n

Veteran recruit Daly Cherry-Evans and utility Hugo Savala shape as a ready-made halves pairing in Walker\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

Multiple Roosters sources have confirmed Walker will undergo surgery, but the club is unwilling to rule a line through him completely given the typical 6-8 week recovery timeframe his operation entails.<\/p>\n

With the NRL grand final 35 days away, a miracle comeback won\u2019t be completely dismissed given Cherry-Evans has made a five-week return from ankle surgery previously. Former captain and assistant coach Boyd Cordner\u2019s recovery from a badly broken ankle to play in the 2013 decider is also the stuff of legend at Roosters HQ.<\/p>\n

\"DalyDaly Cherry-Evans will now take charge of the Roosters attack.Getty Images<\/p>\n

In any case though, the injury is an especially cruel blow for Walker, who has been in career-best form<\/a> after suffering a season-ending ACL rupture leading into the finals two years ago.<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s sidelining comes after he and the club parked contract talks \u2013 with Walker taking a lead role in that decision \u2013 when the Roosters most recent five-year, $5 million offer fell short<\/a> of what his camp believes he can get on the open market when the NRL\u2019s salary cap rises.<\/p>\n

Both parties had agreed to wait until the Tricolours campaign ended before resuming negotiations. Walker\u2019s preference has always been to ink a long-term extension at the club rather than go to market on November 1.<\/p>\n

This masthead reported two weeks ago<\/a> that the Walker camp was seeking around $250,000-$300,000 more per season than the Roosters had originally offered.<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Walker was in distress as he left the field on Saturday night.Getty Images<\/p>\n

On the paddock, Trent Robinson\u2019s side will take on arch-rivals South Sydney this Friday night, needing a win to guarantee a top-four finish.<\/p>\n

Walker\u2019s absence is a telling blow, and comes alongside doubts around whether Victor Radley (concussion) will play or be kept on ice for another week leading into the finals.<\/p>\n

Radley suffered his eighth concussion or failed HIA in five years<\/a> against the Wests Tigers last Sunday and is now required to gain clearance from an independent doctor to play again.<\/p>\n

He is due to complete the NRL\u2019s mandatory 11-day stand-down concussion protocols a day before kick-off against the Rabbitohs, but the Roosters have always taken an ultra-conservative approach with players returning from head knocks as well, and no call has yet been made on the English international\u2019s return.<\/p>\n

Veteran winger Daniel Tupou (shoulder) is firming to return against Souths, while rugby-union-bound back-rower Angus Crichton (broken foot) will be back either this Friday or in week one of the finals.<\/p>\n

Back-to-back losses to the Tigers and Dolphins over the past two rounds have dropped Trent Robinson\u2019s side from first to fourth on the ladder.<\/p>\n

Losing to the Rabbitohs would open the door for Cronulla to pinch fourth place if they can finish the regular season with wins over Parramatta and Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Amco<\/a><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, scans will confirm if Jarome Luai has played his last game for the Wests Tigers.<\/p>\n

Luai failed to finish the game against the Cowboys on Saturday night, with club officials confirming he suffered a lower leg injury.<\/p>\n

Coach Benji Marshall was not asked about Luai after the loss, and made it clear he was unimpressed with some of the refereeing decisions, which he labelled \u201coutrageous\u201d.<\/p>\n

Luai announced earlier this year he would be joining the PNG Chiefs for the start of the 2028 season<\/a>, with the club later agreeing to cut him loose a year early to join Parramatta for the 2027 gap year.<\/p>\n

Should Luai miss out for next Sunday\u2019s clash, Javon Andrews would be the most likely candidate to join Jock Madden in the halves.<\/p>\n

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\"DanDan Walsh<\/a> is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 30, 2026 \u2014 9:51am Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-873296","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\/873296","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=873296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}