{"id":913311,"date":"2026-10-02T09:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T09:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913311\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T09:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T09:48:11","slug":"nrl-2026-connor-watson-out-of-the-grand-final-jayme-fressard-in-doubt-for-the-roosters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/913311\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Connor Watson out of the grand final, Jayme Fressard in doubt for the Roosters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Connor Watson has been denied the chance of a fairytale Roosters premiership after the Dragons-bound utility was ruled of Sunday\u2019s grand final.<\/p>\n

Watson will miss the biggest game of the year after he failed to overturn a category 1 head injury assessment from last week\u2019s preliminary final.<\/p>\n

The dynamic veteran was initially deemed a category 2 but was then upgraded by the independent head doctor a minute after coming on against the Dolphins.<\/p>\n

The club submitted an application for an exemption from the mandatory 11-day stand-down period but was knocked back by an independent specialist. <\/p>\n

Speaking at the grand final fan-fest on Thursday, Roosters coach Trent Robinson indicated either specialist dummy-half Benaiah Ioelu or the versatile Hugo Savala would get game time on Sunday. <\/p>\n

\u201cConnor has played his key role in the balance of our team in the middle of the game. He has really done that well, he is fit, he plays multiple positions, and he is in our 17 every week for a reason. So that is a really important in for us,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd if he is out, we have got other players that will step in that have played many games that are really clear on their role. Connor, we want him to play and he deserves to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether he is fit to play will get decided by somebody else, and then we will adapt.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Roosters NRLW winger Jayme Fressard will need to get through Saturday\u2019s captain\u2019s run to prove her fitness for the decider.<\/p>\n

The representative star was forced off with a shoulder injury in the preliminary final and left Allianz Stadium with her arm in a sling. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m good, ready to go. It\u2019s just a little niggle. We just wanted to be a bit cautious with it last week,\u201d she told NewsWire on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll wait and see (if I play).\u201d <\/p>\n

Fressard said she wasn\u2019t exactly sure what the injury was and that she was glad to return last week after missing several weeks with a hand injury. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou think about the injury, but I just needed to focus on the game,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI came off at halftime so there were still things to worry about. I\u2019ve still got a bit of fitness testing to get through, but hopefully be good for the big dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s just footy, unfortunately. You get the injuries and you\u2019ve got to just try and do your best as an athlete to get back. <\/p>\n

\u201c(It\u2019s) all part of the game and for me, it\u2019s just doing what I can do to get back on the field, getting around the girls, and enjoying the week as much as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mia Wood and Taina Naividi are the obvious replacements if she is ruled out, with Naividi, Tarryn Aiken and Amber Hall all missing last year\u2019s grand final due to injury. <\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the girls play in different positions, so we\u2019re not concerned,\u201d coach John Strange said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe did get some injuries as you mentioned \u2026 so even last year I wasn\u2019t concerned about that, the girls weren\u2019t concerned because they trained in different positions. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith \u2018Fress\u2019, she\u2019s been in and out as well this year and hasn\u2019t played every game. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had Taina Naividi jumping in there on the wing, and she\u2019s done a brilliant job \u2013 as has Mia Wood. If she doesn\u2019t take the field then they will, and they\u2019ll do a job for the girls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published as Grand final heartbreak for Roosters star Connor Watson as Jayme Fressard races clock to be fit for NRLW decider<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Watson has been denied the chance of a fairytale Roosters premiership after the Dragons-bound utility was ruled…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":913312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[432304,415515,466700,481032,406040,376963,481040,481045,481052,481065,481047,481036,383308,481048,376730,383804,424423,399157,404462,402320,452325,481044,454918,57709,120949,450731,382329,474017,481039,64,63,481057,40101,63714,4568,481041,51998,481043,481067,377206,386804,481058,481063,477732,39598,12099,11288,111455,319715,445599,481037,398631,481060,12979,3899,120954,481035,13307,45755,454929,481049,481038,3440,481061,761,762,46634,158,25993,481059,395544,481050,407491,9120,380296,481053,481064,46907,441572,481055,441232,85,4031,8825,481034,54925,391726,481062,469743,376941,481054,481042,481033,377453,74713,376928,481051,481056,377633,417727,481066,288453,478960,481046,460256,445050,98734,417005,380136,378969,464657,364611,9357,9833,276944,385273],"class_list":["post-913311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-s-captain","tag-s-decider","tag-s-grand-final","tag-s-preliminary-final-the-dynamic-veteran","tag-s-run","tag-a-bit","tag-a-brilliant-job","tag-a-category-1-head-injury-assessment","tag-a-category-2","tag-a-devastating-call","tag-a-fairytale-roosters-premiership","tag-a-hand-injury","tag-a-job","tag-a-little-niggle","tag-a-lot","tag-a-minute","tag-a-really","tag-a-reason","tag-a-roosters-star","tag-a-shoulder-injury","tag-a-sling","tag-a-try-scoring-machine","tag-all-part","tag-allianz-stadium","tag-amber-hall","tag-an-application","tag-an-athlete","tag-an-exemption","tag-an-independent-specialist","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-coach-john-strange","tag-concussion","tag-connor","tag-connor-watson","tag-different-positions","tag-doubt","tag-either-specialist-dummy-half-benaiah-ioelu","tag-even-last-year","tag-every-game","tag-every-week","tag-fitness-testing","tag-fress","tag-fressard","tag-friday","tag-game-time","tag-grand-final","tag-grand-final-heartbreak","tag-halftime","tag-her-arm","tag-her-fitness","tag-his-key-role","tag-huge-doubt","tag-injuries","tag-injury","tag-jayme-fressard","tag-jayme-fressard-races","tag-last-week","tag-last-year","tag-many-games","tag-mia-wood","tag-mia-wood-and-taina-naividi","tag-multiple-positions","tag-naividi","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-newswire","tag-nrl","tag-nrlw","tag-nrlw-decider","tag-other-players","tag-our-17","tag-our-team","tag-roosters","tag-roosters-coach-trent-robinson","tag-roosters-nrlw-winger-jayme-fressard","tag-roosters-star-connor-watson","tag-saturday","tag-several-weeks","tag-some-injuries","tag-somebody-else","tag-sports","tag-star","tag-sunday","tag-taina-naividi","tag-tarryn-aiken","tag-the-balance","tag-the-big-dance","tag-the-biggest-game","tag-the-chance","tag-the-decider-the-representative-star","tag-the-dolphins-the-club","tag-the-dragons-bound-utility","tag-the-field","tag-the-game","tag-the-girls","tag-the-grand-final-fan-fest","tag-the-independent-head-doctor","tag-the-injuries","tag-the-injury","tag-the-mandatory-11-day-stand-down-period","tag-the-middle","tag-the-nrl-grand-final","tag-the-obvious-replacements","tag-the-preliminary-final","tag-the-versatile-hugo-savala","tag-the-week","tag-the-wing","tag-the-women","tag-the-year","tag-their-role","tag-this-year","tag-thursday","tag-watson","tag-winger","tag-your-best"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913311","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=913311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/913311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/913312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=913311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=913311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=913311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}