Off-contract at the end of the 2025 NRL season, a Sydney-based NRL club has dropped out of the race to secure the services of Sydney Roosters hooker and New Zealand international Brandon Smith.
Moving to the Roosters at the start of 2023 after six seasons and 107 matches with the Melbourne Storm, Smith has failed to live up to expectations and has yet to reach his full potential at the Bondi-based club.
Struggling to find consistency and on a contract worth around $850,000 per season, reports emerged that he is unlikely to remain at the Sydney Roosters beyond next season as the club looks to make several marquee new signings in the coming years.
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Speaking to Yahoo Sport Australia, Manly Sea Eagles CEO Tony Mestov confirmed that the club will not be pursuing his services and they have "no plans" to sign him as Smith continues to look for a new team beyond 2025.
"Obviously we've got a good hooker in Lachlan Croker and then there's Gordon Chan Kum Tong and Jake Simpkin off the bench," Mestov said.
"There's some really good competition between those three and we have high hopes for young Zaidas Muagututia, who we will see emerge over the next year or so.
"Brandon Smith is a quality player but we have no plans to make a move on him. We don't have room in the salary cap and we're very happy with what we've got."
In recent weeks, Smith has also been linked with a move to the North Queensland Cowboys and South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The Rabbitohs have also been linked with uncontracted forward Matthew Lodge and John Bateman, but the latter looks unlikely to eventuate now, with the Englishman set to make the move to Queensland.
This comes after they freed up space in their salary cap with Lachlan Ilias' departure to the St George Illawarra Dragons.
They are also attempting to receive compensation after skipper Cameron Murray was injured during the 2024 Pacific Championships and could be absent for up to the opening two months.
"If I feel like I'm not wanted, if my skills are not wanted for this year, then you'd think about (changing clubs)," Smith said on The Bye Round podcast.
"But with my mind at the moment, I don't want to go into that realm and think about that stuff.
"My goal is to make sure I have the best year with the Roosters I can possibly have and make sure other clubs, if they are going to sign me, know what they're going to get. Right now Roosters is my team. I'm trying to put that team first."
