Roosters great questions shock call to let Terrell May go as Ryan Papenhuyzen detail emerges
May has been told he can look elsewhere despite signing an extension this year.
Roosters great Bryan Fletcher has questioned the club's shock decision to allow Terrell May to explore his options elsewhere for next season. And Fletcher thinks it could pave the way for the Roosters to make a massive play for Storm fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen, who has hit the NRL open market after being asked to take a pay cut at Melbourne if he wants to stay at the club beyond 2025.
On Thursday, The Sydney Morning Herald's Michael Chammas reported the Roosters had given May the green light to seek an immediate release from the club, despite signing a $950,000 two-year extension with the Tri Colours earlier this year. The move from the Roosters comes as a massive shock, with May enjoying a breakout season in the NRL in 2024 and appearing to be a long-term successor to departed club legend, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
May impressed coming mainly off the bench for the Roosters last season, where he averaged 110 running metres and 27 tackles per game. The hulking prop also crossed for six tries, as well as racking up 40 offloads and 64 tackle breaks, with his 1087 post-contact metres the fourth-best for the Roosters in 2024.
The 25-year-old also showed his ability to play massive minutes in the middle after starting at prop against the Bulldogs in round 16 and playing the whole game. May only re-signed with the Roosters in April, making the club's decision to allow him to leave even harder to fathom.
"This smells," Fletcher told SEN's The Run Home With Joel and Fletch on Thursday. "I don't know (the reasons behind it) but you've got no Jared next year so they need some punch up front. Something's gone on here." The Roosters great suggested the move could pave the way for the Roosters to pounce on a superstar such as Papenhuyzen, who is contracted at the Storm until the end of next season but has baulked at signing an extension worth $750,000 per season that represents a significant pay cut from his current $950,000 deal.
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"They're saying they need to free up some salary cap. Are they going for a big gun?" Fletcher asked. "Is it a Papi (Ryan Papenhuyzen)? Is there someone coming and they need to free up (their salary cap) desperately?" The Roosters already have plenty of salary cap space though, following the exits of Waerea-Hargreaves, Joseph Suaalii, Joseph Manu, Luke Keary and Sitili Tupouniua.
Roosters allow Terrell May to explore options at rival clubs
May was reportedly pursued by rival clubs including Canterbury earlier this year and the Bulldogs could potentially come back in for him after terminating Josh Addo-Carr's $550,000 contract in the wake of his cocaine saga. May was reportedly told he could explore opportunities at other clubs while in camp with the Samoan side in England. But Chammas said there did not appear to be any particular incident that triggered the development.
"People are quick to jump to conclusions and say that something must have happened," Chammas said on 2GB's Wide World of Sports. "From my understanding, there has been no incident, there has been no off-field misdemeanour that has led to this. It is simply a football decision that's going to lead to Terrell May most likely finding an opportunity at a rival club for 2025."
May could quite feasibly command more on the open market than his two-year, $950,000 deal at the Roosters, with Chammas suggesting the move is a win-win for club and player. "It's probably going to work out best for both parties — the Roosters want to move in a different direction [and] perhaps [May] doesn't fit in culturally with what they're trying to do," he said. "But Terrell, I think he gets more than [$450,000 per season] on the open market. He may end up somewhere else in the $500,000 or even cracking $600,000 a season."
The move could also pave the way for the cashed-up Roosters to make a play for Ben Hunt after the veteran halfback parted ways with the Dragons this week. The Roosters have signed another veteran halfback in Chad Townsend for 2025 but playmaker Sam Walker will be ruled out of the first half of the season as he recovers from an ACL injury, meaning a deal for Hunt could make a lot of sense.
with AAP
