Terrell May levels ugly new allegation against Roosters as 'two-minute' detail comes to light

New Wests Tigers recruit Terrell May claims the Roosters' last-minute release of him was a strategic move to ensure he didn't sign with an NRL premiership rival. During Samoa's tour of England, May received a shock phone call informing him he was free to leave the Tricolours as the club wanted to "go in a different direction".

This was despite the the 25-year-old signing a fresh two-year extension in April, and emerging as one of the best front rowers in the game. And weeks on from finding out he was no longer wanted at Bondi, May says the only explanation he has received was in a confusing two-minute phone conversation with Trent Robinson that left him with more questions than answers.

But the front rower told James Graham on 'The Bye Round Podcast' that he believes the Roosters had planned to release him for a while and even suggested the contract extension he signed was solely so the club could ensure he wouldn't join an NRL heavyweight. At the time he re-signed with the Roosters, multiple clubs were chasing his signature, including Melbourne and Penrith.

Before he signed the extension Melbourne had not yet signed ex-Tigers prop Stefano Utoikamanu, and the Panthers were preparing to release James Fisher-Harris and suss out their forward situation. And with arguably the Roosters' two biggest premiership rivals now committing funds on forwards, May was informed he could look elsewhere.

Terrell May questions timing of Roosters decision

The Tri Colours cited the forward's lack of commitment to training and not fitting Robinson's style of play as reasons why he was allowed to leave. But May feels like he has been wronged and told Graham that he is convinced it was all a long play.

“I wanted to be a one-club man, but then when you come at the market at the back end, teams have already filled their top 30 so there’s no cap space and not many clubs chasing you,” May said. “That’s why I was a bit dirty. I was like, bro, you could have told me this ages ago when there were clubs that had money and cap space, but to do it right at the deadline, it was a bit strange.

"I felt like it was a strategy for him so I don’t go to certain clubs (like) Melbourne, Penrith. Penrith let go of Fish the week after I (re-signed with the Roosters) … and then they signed (Isaiah) Papali’i. They would have been looking for a front-rower. I felt like that was a strategy for him to make me not go to the top clubs. But like I said, I’m happy at the Tigers now and I get to go start a new journey there and be that alpha leading the packs."

Terrell May says two-minute phone call blindsided him

But above all else, the thing that May cannot wrap his head around is how he went from what he thought was a valued member of the team to no longer wanted in the space of 120 seconds on the phone with Robinson. “Nothing was ever said or mentioned throughout the whole year, and then getting a phone call two days before our second game in England,” May said. “Getting that phone call from Robbo, I was thinking of all the good things. I must be getting a call saying ‘I’m so happy for you’ and all that stuff or that ‘You did us proud’.

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“But to get that call it was just a 180 of what I thought the original call was going to be, I was just in shock. I didn’t digest it all until like a week later. I was just thinking the worst of the worst, what did I do wrong? Was there something I did wrong? After that call, I was trying to text everyone because it was 3:30am in Australia.

“So none of my family or manager or anyone was awake, so I had to digest that all by myself. I was just like ‘What just happened? Did I just lose my contract?’.”

Following the news that May had been granted permission to start fresh elsewhere, rumours swirled about what he had done wrong. However, as rugby league fans scrambled to figure out why he got his marching orders, May himself was doing the same.

“I wanted to know the reason why this was happening, and the reasoning why didn’t add up to me. I see people saying ‘he must have done this, he must have done that’,” he said. “The honest truth is I honestly don’t know why I got released... it was just ‘we don’t see you as the future of the club, we are going to go in a different direction’.

“That was my explanation, it was a two-minute phone call. That was the whole reason I got told to find another club, and I couldn’t digest it, I was thinking the worst of the worst. Everything I had done for the club, I didn’t even get a farewell. I didn’t get an end-of-year ‘we are going to move you on’,” I just got that two-minute phone call and nothing from that day still, it’s a strange one.”