{"id":390017,"date":"2024-05-02T07:35:58","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T07:35:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=390017"},"modified":"2024-05-02T08:04:09","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T08:04:09","slug":"walters-responds-as-roosters-declare-cobbo-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=390017","title":{"rendered":"Walters responds as Roosters declare Cobbo interest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Trent Robinson<\/a> has revealed the search to regenerate and energise his team has begun, as the Sydney Roosters<\/a> prepare to lose a number of experienced players at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The Roosters have suffered major losses across their top squad, with Joey Manu<\/a>, Joseph Suaalii<\/a>, Jared Waerea-Hargraves<\/a> and Luke Keary<\/a> all announcing they will not be returning in the Tricolours for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

Star five-eighth Keary announced his retirement from the game earlier this month<\/a>, opting to end his $800,000-a-season contract one season early.<\/p>\n

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\ufeffKeary's departure from the Roosters has accelerated the Roosters' progression plan of moving Sandon Smith into the halves alongside Sam Walker<\/a>, however, the coach revealed he intends to chase top talent from outside Bondi.<\/p>\n

The three-time premiership-winning coach said the Roosters were in the market for a game-breaker.<\/p>\n

The name of Queensland Origin star Selwyn Cobbo, who will be free to negotiate with rival clubs from November 1 this year, \ufeffhas caught the attention of Robinson, with the coach confirming the Roosters would be open to signing him.<\/p>\n

"Yeah, obviously, you know the talent that he is, as soon as he came on to the scene you could see what a quality player he was and will be," said Robinson.<\/p>\n

\"Broncos<\/p>\n

"That hasn't come up in discussion… that's not on the radar at the moment, but [we're]\ufeff always looking at the high-quality players.<\/p>\n

"I know his ability to play a few different positions is key, but we're also on a path there with some of our young centres."<\/p>\n

Broncos coach Kevin Walters responded to speculation about Cobbo's future, stating that the club will try their "very best to keep" keep him in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

"Nah, he will be staying here. Look at the environment here, it's a beautiful place to play rugby league," Walters said.<\/p>\n

"That's the plan at this stage – they have been two very good players coming through for us and I feel Kotoni is in the best form of his career, particularly with his involvements and the way he is influencing games.<\/p>\n

"We'll do our very best to keep both of them."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2024 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Brisbane<\/p>\n

Robinson added that an experienced playmaker to replace Keary was a priority.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeff"That would be ideal [to recruit experience] if the player is right. If it's not, then we're not going to put someone in front of Sandon that's not of high quality," Robinson said.<\/p>\n

"If we think someone is really experienced and can do that [it would be worth looking at]… but we are in May, and for next year most of the time they're all signed.<\/p>\n

"So, that's difficult there, but we also really believe in Sandon. If we have to go young and develop them through the next year, then we will."\ufeff<\/p>\n

However, Robinson ruled out Rabbitohs<\/a> halfback Lachlan Ilias as a potential option for the club, after the 23-year-old was granted permissions to negotiate deals with rivals due to the club's impending signing of highly rated young St Helens halfback Lewis Dodd<\/a>.<\/p>\n

"[Ilias is a] really good player, but similar position [also young] to those two [Smith and Walker] as well, and so that doesn't really line up as much even though he is an NRL player," Robinson said.<\/p>\n

\"Sydney<\/p>\n

Robinson also responded to speculation linking gun halfback Sam Walker to a move elsewhere, with the Broncos considered an obvious destination due to the age of Adam Reynolds and the fact that Walker is a Queenslander.<\/p>\n

However, the Roosters coach is not concerned by interest elsewhere.\ufeff<\/p>\n

\ufeff"There's a challenge to keep good players, I think that's always the case, but I think Sam's been quite open, we've been quite open," he said.<\/p>\n

"We've been on a path there four years with Sam, we've been very clear about him being our long-term half and developing into that. That plan hasn't changed for us, and as far as I know it hasn't changed for Sam."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Trent Robinson has revealed the search to regenerate and energise his team has begun, as the Sydney Roosters prepare to lose a number of experienced […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":390019,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390017"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=390017"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390023,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390017\/revisions\/390023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/390019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=390017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=390017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=390017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}