{"id":898136,"date":"2026-09-19T20:42:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:42:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898136\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T20:42:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T20:42:29","slug":"nrl-2026-trent-robinson-confirms-sam-walker-set-for-roosters-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/898136\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Trent Robinson confirms Sam Walker set for Roosters return"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trent Robinson has dropped the biggest hint yet that Sam Walker will return for next week\u2019s preliminary final showdown with the Dolphins, with the superstar halfback on track to play just four weeks after suffering a serious ankle injury.<\/p>\n

Walker hasn\u2019t played since the round 26 loss to the Dolphins on August 29 but is expected to be named for next Friday\u2019s return bout in Queensland after the Roosters piled on the points to eliminate the Sharks with a 46-10 win at Allianz Stadium. <\/p>\n

Daly Cherry-Evans was brilliant in the No.7 jersey but he\u2019ll happily shift to five-eighth if Walker is cleared to return, with the Queensland halfback spotted kicking a soccer ball on Saturday night. <\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, pretty confident from what we\u2019ve seen,\u201d Robinson said after the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t sort of trained with us yet, but he\u2019s had really good progressions, and so we\u2019ll get to Monday-Tuesday and we\u2019ll get a good gauge on where he\u2019s at when it comes to more uncontrolled footy stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walker would be a huge inclusion for the Tricolours after Cherry-Evans bounced back from the pain of missing a field goal against Penrith last week to lead the team with a try and three assists.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know different people talk about amnesia and sporting players having it is pretty key, and you move on pretty quickly. And that\u2019s what those guys do,\u201d Robinson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey know the game\u2019s on the line, and then in the end, everyone\u2019s telling you how you\u2019re going to play, and this is going to happen, and that\u2019s going to happen. In the end, 17 guys decide how the game\u2019s going to go. <\/p>\n

\u201cDaly made a choice, and he absolutely nailed the halfback role for us tonight. There was great space created, and he made some really good choices on the end of the line about how to pass or kick that ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Cherry-Evans and James Tedesco did what they\u2019ve been doing for years, young guns Robert Toia and Salesi Foketi are the trump cards that can take them all the way.<\/p>\n

Foketi set the tone with a huge carry in their first set that led to a try, while Toia scored a try and had some huge carries to continue his dream run.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been pretty complete since he\u2019s come into the game,\u201d Robinson said of his strike centre.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone talks about doing your job, but you\u2019ve got to do it with some intensity, and he had that whether it was a kick chase, whether it was a high-ball catch, whether it was his tackling, he was constant in that.<\/p>\n

\u201cSalesi Foketi also in the same way did his job well, but then when you have your moment, you\u2019ve got to make it count, and Salesi did that as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018Pretty confident\u2019: Sam Walker expected to be named for prelim final as DCE bounces back after rare miss<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trent Robinson has dropped the biggest hint yet that Sam Walker will return for next week\u2019s preliminary final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":898137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[466842,466831,466830,466820,390083,396032,466847,466827,466835,466849,466822,381261,466836,466655,398846,466853,57709,466832,64,66948,63,60217,466848,466846,4430,156175,328611,16308,466837,466823,407982,466833,466826,12979,417702,13307,466838,466855,466821,761,762,466843,51485,35062,158,16284,71040,1922,701,466829,466852,466834,9747,9120,356080,421655,4478,46907,466856,466845,466844,85,1369,380394,466841,54179,215379,74713,420644,463153,87494,466840,378379,426717,465546,174850,466851,466824,379009,87397,437733,315971,466825,423348,417994,466854,466839,466850,383350,420144,464413,76526,34224,4737,28333,9829,32388,3517,379404,466828],"class_list":["post-898136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-preliminary-final-showdown","tag-s-return-bout","tag-17-guys","tag-a-46-10-win","tag-a-choice","tag-a-field-goal","tag-a-good-gauge","tag-a-high-ball-catch","tag-a-huge-carry","tag-a-huge-inclusion","tag-a-kick-chase","tag-a-return","tag-a-serious-ankle-injury","tag-a-soccer-ball","tag-a-try","tag-all-the-way-foketi","tag-allianz-stadium","tag-amnesia-and-sporting-players","tag-au","tag-august-29","tag-australia","tag-cherry-evans","tag-cherry-evans-and-james-tedesco","tag-daly","tag-daly-cherry-evans","tag-dce","tag-different-people","tag-finals","tag-great-space","tag-his-dream-run","tag-his-job","tag-his-strike-centre","tag-his-tackling","tag-injuries","tag-just-four-weeks","tag-last-week","tag-less-than-a-month","tag-monday-tuesday","tag-more-uncontrolled-footy-stuff","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-next-friday","tag-next-week","tag-night","tag-nrl","tag-penrith","tag-prelim-final","tag-pretty","tag-queensland","tag-rare-miss","tag-really-good-progressions","tag-robert-toia-and-salesi-foketi","tag-robinson","tag-roosters","tag-salesi","tag-salesi-foketi","tag-sam-walker","tag-saturday","tag-some-huge-carries","tag-some-intensity","tag-some-really-good-choices","tag-sports","tag-surgery","tag-that-ball","tag-the-biggest-hint","tag-the-dolphins","tag-the-end","tag-the-game","tag-the-grand-final","tag-the-halfback-role","tag-the-line","tag-the-no-7-jersey","tag-the-pain","tag-the-points","tag-the-queensland-halfback","tag-the-roosters","tag-the-roosters-eye","tag-the-round-26-loss","tag-the-same-way","tag-the-sharks","tag-the-superstar","tag-the-team","tag-the-title-race","tag-the-tone","tag-the-tricolours","tag-the-trump-cards","tag-the-two-words","tag-their-first-set","tag-those-guys","tag-three-assists","tag-toia","tag-tonight","tag-track","tag-trent-robinson","tag-tuesday","tag-walker","tag-years","tag-young-guns","tag-your-job","tag-your-moment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898136","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=898136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/898136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/898137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=898136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=898136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=898136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}