Roosters rocked before Panthers clash as Joseph Suaalii's availability thrown into doubt

The Roosters are sweating on the fitness of star centre Joseph Suaalii in the latest injury concern for the Tri Colours ahead of the NRL finals. Suaalii took a heavy shot to the neck late in last weekend's win over Souths and is reportedly in doubt for the clash with the Panthers.

"Suaalii was rushed straight to the sheds after the hit and has been undergoing intensive physiotherapy," WWOS reports. Should he be ruled out, Michael Jennings or Sitili Tupouniua would likely be called into the centres.

After being one of the most dominant teams in 2024 and by far the league's most potent attack, the Roosters have been hit by the injury bug at the worst possible time, losing several key players in the weeks leading up to finals. They will be without Sam Walker, Brandon Smith and Victor Radley for their clash with the Panthers on Saturday due to injury, while veteran Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will also miss the match due to suspension. Add a potential Suaalii unavailability into the mix and they will go into the clash with the defending premiers seriously weakened.

But despite a significant chunk of their star power sidelined, Roosters captain James Tedesco is confident his side has what it takes to not only take down the reigning premiers this weekend but go all the way. "It’s hard because this time of year you want your whole squad to be healthy," Tedesco said.

"That goes a long way to winning a premiership, but we can’t use that as an excuse. Our depth this year is probably the strongest it’s been for years, we’ve got top players who are out at the moment but the guys that fill in for those guys are just as good.

"Even though we’ve got a couple of guys out, we aren’t too disheartened by that. We’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys coming in. It’s not ideal this time of year, you want your whole squad to be healthy, but that’s footy sometimes."

James Tedesco says Roosters' premiership window isn't closing

Tedesco also doesn't believe the significant roster changes at the Roosters will prevent them from challenging for premierships in the coming years. "No, not at all," Tedesco said. "(The window) is closing on their time at the Roosters and we want to make the most of that for those guys leaving."

The Roosters will lose around 900 games and eight premierships worth of first-grade experience when they farewell Suaalii, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Joey Manu, Luke Keary and Sitili Tupouniua this summer. While 36-year-old centre Michael Jennings - the NRL's oldest player - and third-string hooker Zach Dockar-Clay could also join that list as currently neither is contracted for 2025.

But the Roosters No.1 says if anything the amount of players leaving the club is extra motivation to win the premiership this year. "The guys that are leaving at the end of the year are so big for our club, have been legends of our club now for a number of years now," he said.

"It is sad to see a lot of those guys go. You can’t just replace guys like that but we’ve talked about that amongst ourselves and at the club that this is a great opportunity for us.

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"This is a big opportunity and we won’t leave any stone unturned, just go all in at training and away from training and make sure we’re as prepared as we can." The changes will force the Tricolours to go with two new first-team centres next season, rely on Sandon Smith as Sam Walker's full-time halves partner and find a new forward pack leader with the influential veteran Waerea-Hargreaves heading to England.

with AAP