Sydney Roosters skipper James Tedesco has named his 'Player to Watch' for the upcoming 2025 NRL season as the club embarks on a new chapter following the departures of several high-profile players.
Eliminated from the 2024 NRL Finals series after a 30-point loss to the Melbourne Storm in the Preliminary Final, the Roosters will put forward and entirely different starting line-up next season with Trent Robinson losing several stars in the off-season.
The departures of Joseph Suaalii and Joseph Manu to rugby union and Sitili Tupouniua to the Bulldogs, as well as the retirement of Luke Keary, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Michael Jennings, sees the club return to the drawing board next season.
Attempting to once again be one of the competition's favourites, the Roosters will also be without Brandon Smith and Sam Walker for the first half of the season, adding more woes to their roster.
However, the injuries and departures to several stars means others can stand up in their place and make a name for themselves in the NRL arena.
Asked by News Corp as to who the 'Player to Watch' is in 2025, Tedesco name-dropped rising centre Robert Toia, who is coming off an ACL injury. The Roosters skipper also mentioned fellow outside back Billy Smith and forward Salesi Foketi.
โI was thinking of Rob straight away,โ Tedesco said.
โHe came off another ACL last year and trained against us at the back end of the year. He was pretty hard to tackle and pretty dominant against some of our centres, who aren't too shabby either.
โGuys like Rob Toia and Billy Smith โ he's coming off a lot of injuries as well. Those two are very talented. Salesi (Foketi), he's another young backrower coming through."
After a horror run of injuries that saw him rupture his ACL in 2022, fracture his jaw in 2023 and rupture the ACL in his other knee, Toia will be looking to make his NRL debut next season and lock down one of the two vacant centre spots left by Joseph Manu and Joseph Suaalii.
An U19s QLD Maroons representative, Toia has been regarded as one of the most exciting prospects coming through the club's ranks, and big things are expected of the 20-year-old in the coming years.
Like Toia, Billy Smith has had an unfortunate run of injuries throughout his career and is one of the NRL's unluckiest players.
Re-signed until the end of the 2027 NRL season, Smith has scored eight tries in 27 matches for the club but has failed to play consistent minutes to a variety of injuries that have subsequently seen him ruled out for indefinite periods at a time.
โThey've got all the attributes. It's just about keeping them healthy," Tedesco added.
"The first part of that is having a really good pre-season, getting them comfortable with the grind and then hopefully having a really good season.โ
