{"id":903259,"date":"2026-09-24T03:26:45","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T03:26:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903259\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T03:26:45","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T03:26:45","slug":"big-dog-how-cleanskin-rooster-replaced-jwh-as-top-prop-the-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/903259\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Dog: how cleanskin Rooster replaced JWH as top prop | The Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"T-totallerT-totaller and cleanskin Naufahu Whyte has emerged as the Sydney Roosters’ main prop. Photo: Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS<\/p>\n

When the Sydney Roosters signed Spencer Leniu from Penrith ahead of the 2024 NRL season it was widely assumed they were getting a like-for-like replacement for Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.<\/p>\n

A junkyard dog of a front-rower who has skirted the boundaries between barbarism and legality, Leniu’s time at Moore Park has been punctuated by more lows than highs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But while Leniu has stolen the headlines during his time in Sydney’s east, Naufahu Whyte has established himself as the Roosters’ long-term front-row leader.<\/p>\n

Former Canterbury prop James Graham labelled Whyte as the best middle in the NRL in 2026.<\/p>\n

Graham’s verdict is underlined by the fact the 24-year-old, who will start in Friday’s preliminary final, averages 167m running metres per game.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NRL’s top metre-eating props according to average running metres per game. (Susie Dodds\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“When Jared left I honestly didn’t see it as an opportunity to be the next big dog, I just came in wanting to do my job,” Whyte told AAP.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I’ve just been going about my business brother, and I think I’ve gotten those comparisons from other people \u2026 I just run hard and tackle hard.<\/p>\n

“I kind of grew up with Jared, knowing other teams would go after him, and I never thought I’d be in a position where other teams do review and look at me.<\/p>\n

“But I love those battles and take it personally – anyone who comes at me it’s going to be hard to bring me down, you can bring your whole pack, you can bring anyone.”<\/p>\n

\"NaufahuNaufahu Whyte is tackled by the Dolphins’ Max Plath in their round-26 match at Allianz Stadium. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

While Waerea-Hargreaves and Leniu will be viewed by most NRL fans as sinners, Whyte is a cleanskin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has never been suspended through his 82-game career and says he has yet to feel intimidated on the field.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I only fear God,” said the t-totaller prop. “There’s nothing else that brings fear to my eyes, so when I cross the white line it doesn’t matter who’s standing in front of me.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Whyte is half Samoan and half Tongan and stops to say the only person on earth who might cause him to feel nervous is his father, Ofa, who made a career as a builder in Auckland.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“You always love and respect your father and have that fear because of how special they are, but besides that I fear nobody,” said Whyte.<\/p>\n

“I can speak on behalf of a lot of Polynesian families. It was tough growing up, we didn’t have much.<\/p>\n

“I have always admired my parents, especially my old man. Both of them are still working and constantly pushed me to work hard. They are both a big reason I’m here today.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

It’s not lost on Whyte that he now lives in one of Sydney’s most affluent areas where his hair, which he cuts himself, makes him easy to recognise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Roosters feels like home for him and as well as being the club’s forward leader, he is viewed as a trailblazer for the younger Polynesian players in Trent Robinson’s squad.<\/p>\n

Back-rower Salesi Foketi, who trampled Nicho Hynes in last week’s semi-final thrashing of Cronulla, said Whyte’s transition from a raw forward out of New Zealand to one of the NRL’s leading props was an inspiration to him.<\/p>\n

Like those his junior, Whyte has yet to win a premiership with the Roosters having not made a grand final since 2019.<\/p>\n

\"SpencerSpencer Leniu and Naufahu Whyte stop Canterbury skipper Stephen Crichton in his tracks. (Dan Himbrechts\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

The only thing that stands in their way is a Dolphins side, who beat the Roosters twice during the regular season and who have previous form in antagonising Whyte and Leniu.<\/p>\n

“I know me and Spencer are going to be going after it again,” said Whyte.<\/p>\n

“If it goes down, it goes down, but we’re trying to dominate with our footy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“If I can nail this game this week it would be special (to be in a grand final).<\/p>\n

“We deserve to be in those big big dances, and I know we’ve got the team to dominate and get the job done.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Loading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"T-totaller and cleanskin Naufahu Whyte has emerged as the Sydney Roosters’ main prop. Photo: Mark Evans\/AAP PHOTOS When…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":903260,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-903259","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\/903259","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=903259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/903259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/903260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=903259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=903259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=903259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}