Brandon Smith's days as a Sydney Roosters player are numbered.

That is the clear knock-on effect of the club announcing the signing of Reece Robson on a mega four-year deal this week.

His departure from the North Queensland Cowboys came as something of a surprise, but the lure of returning to Sydney to play for one of the competition's glamour clubs - likely for more money than the Cowboys were offering - was simply too good to refuse.

And what it means is that 2025 will be Brandon Smith's last season at the tri-colours.

Off-season at the end of the campaign, and aiming to return from an ACL injury during the first half of it, the timing realistically couldn't be worse for Smith, who will go into a contract year unable to play any rugby league.

That, after two seasons at the Roosters, where he hasn't lived up to the level he was expected to after being signed from the Melbourne Storm.

But there are plenty of clubs who need a dummy half, and for his faults, Smith did show enough, particularly in the second half of 2024, to suggest he can, in fact, cut it as a dummy half in the NRL.

So, here are five clubs who will want to make a play for the off-contract Rooster.

2. Canberra Raiders

It would be fair to say no one is sold on the hooking situation in Canberra.

While Tom Starling is still at the club alongside Danny Levi, both players are off-contract at the end of the 2025 campaign.

It has been reported previously that Levi would be out the door at the end of 2024, so that he is still contracted is an eyebrow-raiser, while Starling has been reduced to a very effective bench role in recent times.

That all said, signing Smith may well be on the radar for the Raiders. The club have publically revealed they aren't interested, but Ricky Stuart also once claimed former Penrith Panthers second-rower Zac Hosking wouldn't be joining for the current season before doing just that two weeks later.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Canberra is too cold. Parra is too far west. The Gold Coast has an attractive climate and a decent cityscape. The club finished fifth on the table in 2024.

    If the Roosters are prepared to throw in half of what they will have to pay Brandon Smith just to keep him playing NSW Cup when he returns from injury, then this could be a match made in heaven.

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