Brandon Smith's revelation about girlfriend as NRL star could be squeezed out of Roosters
Smith says the situation with his girlfriend will factor heavily in a decision on his future.
Brandon Smith insists he does not want to leave the Roosters and says his girlfriend is "well entrenched in the club", amid reports the Tri Colours are shopping the hooker around to rival NRL clubs. The Daily Telegraph reports that Roosters officials have contacted other clubs to gauge whether they would be interested in signing the representative No.9, who is off contract at the end of 2025 and thus able to speak to rivals about 2026 and beyond.
Smith was signed from the Storm on a three-year deal worth a reported $900,000 per-season from 2023, but his first two seasons at the Roosters have been rather underwhelming, with injuries and a lack of form failing to see him hit the same heights he reached in Melbourne. The Kiwi Test star enjoyed a better second season at the Roosters in 2024 but suffered a season-ending ACL injury in round 26 that wiped him out of the club's finals campaign.
The New Zealand star admitted earlier in the year that he thought his contract was going to be torn up after he was dropped from the side for missing a team meeting. Smith claimed he forgot about a mid-season review and was out at breakfast with his girlfriend, before his manager offered a different version of events and claimed the Kiwi star simply slept in.
Smith was slapped with a breach notice and a suspended fine but put the drama behind him to help the Roosters sew up their spot in the finals, before his untimely injury. But his future at the club has again come into question, with the Roosters already showing their ruthless side by reportedly telling prop Terrell May he's free to explore his options elsewhere.
Brandon Smith says he and girlfriend are settled in Sydney
But Smith says despite fresh reports suggesting his time at the club may be coming to an end, the Kiwi No.9 has no intention of leaving and has not yet spoken to coach Trent Robinson about his future. However, the 28-year-old says he and his girlfriend feel at home in Sydney with the Roosters and he would "ideally" like to remain with the Tri Colours.
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“I haven’t spoken to them yet because Robbo (coach Trent Robinson) is still away,” Smith said on James Graham’s The Bye Round podcast about his Roosters future. “When we get back to training we will have the proper discussion.
"Ideally I would like to stay at the Roosters. I don’t want to go anywhere and my partner is well entrenched in the club. Ideally I would like to stay but the game of rugby league doesn’t always have the same opinions as yourself.”
Smith says his focus has been on recovering from his injury and getting his body right and does not want to discuss his future until after he gets back to training with the squad, despite being a free agent as of November 1. “My manager told me 'when do you want me to talk to other clubs' and I just said I am not really in a rush at the moment,” Smith said.
“Usually you sign a contract for security... in case pre-season you get injured or something happens like that. With me, I am already injured. I don’t have a risk of being reinjured. So I just told them to wait it out, don’t talk to anyone yet and I want to go back to training and get my knee right.”
Terrell May reportedly on the outer at the Roosters
The Smith situation comes amid a period of upheaval at the Roosters, following the departures of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Luke Keary, Joseph Suaalii and Joseph Manu. The Roosters have also reportedly informed hulking prop May that he's free to negotiate a deal with rival clubs, despite only extending him this year on a two-year, $950,000 deal.
The shock decision from the Roosters is understood to centre around May's attitude towards footy after an interview in September where he admitted his interest in the sport often wavers. “I gave it away twice, when I was 18 and then when I was 20,” May said at the time. Both times I just didn’t want to play any more. I get like that throughout the year...
“It’s a weird feeling. I don’t think many people experience it where one week they love the game and go on the TV screens and the next week they don’t want to be there at all. Sometimes I just feel I could quit, like in a day. It sounds a bit weird, but I get those thoughts sometimes where I’m just like ‘Is this really for me? I’m very grateful to be where I am and playing with the Roosters, but rugby league isn’t the whole of me."
