Swings and round-a-bouts: How Roosters missing Hunt could help win 2026 premiership

Let's be honest: The 2025 NRL season is going to be a write off for the Sydney Roosters.

That's not to say internally they will be heading into the year expecting to miss the finals, but it would be a gigantic surprise if anything but that was the end result.

They had already been confirmed to lose Joseph Suaalii and Joseph Manu to rugby union, as well as Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Luke Keary to the English Super League, then Round 26 struck.

Sam Walker and Brandon Smith, two of their key spine members, both went down with ACL injuries in the same game.

It's as unlucky as it gets, but not only did it de-rail the Roosters' momentum for the 2024 finals series, it all but ruined their 2025 season.

As it has turned out since then, the Roosters had no intention of retaining Brandon Smith with his contract due to expire at the end of the 2025 season.

He is yet to find a new club, but it's almost a certainty that he will with a shortage of players on the open market and plenty of clubs desperate to secure new talent.

That the Roosters, after their departures were confirmed and injuries were suffered, then agreed to let go of Terrell May - in fact, virtually pushed him out the Bondi exit gates - shows you all you need to know about their aspirations and outcast for 2025.

It's bleak.

But this is also a Roosters team with a plan.

Nick Politis is not one to sit on his hands and put up with a sustained period of failure, and nor is Trent Robinson. For all the accusations of buying premierships, other coaches have tried and done far less than what Robinson has been able to do.

So that's why when rumours broke that the Roosters were going after Ben Hunt, who was released from his contract at the St George Illawarra Dragons, it made little to no sense.

Not because it wouldn't have helped the Roosters during what is going to be a difficult 2025 season, but because a move like that on a potential two-year deal - the length he eventually signed with the Brisbane Broncos - wouldn't have fit in with the vision for 2026.

It's a vision that became clear when the tri-colours missed the signing of Hunt, but then turned around and added Reece Robson to their roster.

The now New South Wales Blues State of Origin dummy half will be sorely missed by the Cowboys in 2026, there is little to no doubt about.

He has quickly become one of the best rakes in the game, and will provide a spark to the Roosters that they have been missing with Brandon Smith not quite living up to the potential at dummy half he was signed on.

Strong defensively - a pre-requisite for any dummy half of course - Robson also provides excellent creativity in the role. With Damien Cook and Apisai Koroisau losing some of the spark they had at one point in their careers, Robson is really only challenged in the ball-running stakes at this point of his career by the work of Harry Grant at the Melbourne Storm.

And you can see him improving at the Roosters even further, if that's even possible.

There he will be likely to work with the experienced Jake Friend who is currently on the coaching staff at Bondi, and slot into a team that will have plenty of either rising stars, or players still in their prime.

Whether Joseph Manu returns or not from his forary into rugby union could make a difference, but so too could the on-field work of James Tedesco, Sam Walker, and the likes of Lindsay Collins, Victor Radley and Angus Crichton in the forward pack.

Dummy halves play their best rugby league in teams who are on the front foot, and while that might not come as a surprise, the way Robson plays will only enable the Roosters' crop of forwards to get their team on the front foot further.

So, while missing Hunt for 2025 may have been a body blow to the Roosters for the immediate 12 months ahead, in reality, whether Hunt was at the club or not, the 2025 campaign was always going to be a difficult one.

Instead, they have signed a bonafide star who could well provide the missing piece of the puzzle for the tri-colours to attack premiership glory in 2026.

No matter where they finish in 2025, they should be very, very high on betting markets when it opens following this year's decider.