Fifita arrival could make it tougher to retain Crichton, says Robinson

“He’s in the best form he’s been in years and years. He’s an Australian player, he’s fighting for a back-row spot in Origin and he’s in good form.

“That’s not the end of the road yet [in negotiations].”

Fifita has shown glimpses of his potential during stints at Brisbane and the Gold Coast, but Robinson feels his best football is ahead of him.

“I think he’s shown his quality over a number of seasons since he was a kid,” Robinson said.

“He obviously has an effect on the opposition there, in the way he runs and carries the ball and affects opposition defences, and his ability to score a try on his own and also in that system. They are the qualities that we saw.

“He’s 24, his best footy is definitely ahead of him, hence the length of the agreement there.”

The Roosters face the Warriors on Sunday bolstered by the return of Spencer Leniu, who has served an eight-game suspension for making a racial slur against Bronco Ezra Mam in the season opener in Las Vegas.

Asked if the former Panthers forward owed his teammates, Robinson said: “It’s just time for him to get back out there and be himself and play the footy that he loves …

“He’s obviously had to learn a lot. He’s gone through a lot of different meetings and experiences to get some learnings from that.

“He’s had to train a lot, he’s had to do a preseason again. With everything that’s happened, I feel like he’s done his work on himself and is back on his game, and now it’s time to get back out there and play.”

One more year: Craig Bellamy to remain Storm coach in 2025

Craig Bellamy will coach for a 23rd successive year at the Melbourne Storm.

One of the most successful coaches in rugby league history has confirmed he will remain in charge at the Storm in 2025.

Bellamy has coached 558 NRL games, all for the Storm, with the two games widely credited at the Broncos in 2002 not officially recognised because he was only a caretaker at the time.

The 64-year-old has had a long-running agreement with the Storm that requires him to inform the club at the start of each season about his plans for the following year.

Bellamy shows no signs of slowing down – nor losing the dressing room given Melbourne are a chance to finish the weekend n top of the ladder should they beat table-toppers Cronulla on Saturday night.

Assistants Jason Ryles and Aaron Bellamy, Craig’s son, have been earmarked as the men to succeed the supercoach, and will need to bide their time a bit longer.

Cameron Munster spoke about Bellamy being a father-figure to him when he celebrated 200 games last week. Munster said at the start of the year how important it was for Bellamy to remain at the helm given the amount of player experience that had left the club in the past 18 months.

Bellamy started in 2003, won the 2012, 2017 and 2020 premierships, while also winning the 2007 and 2009 grand finals, which were later stripped for cap breaches.

David Fifita is done. So why can’t the Roosters keep Angus Crichton?

David Fifita’s signing does not necessarily mean the end for Angus Crichton’s time at the Roosters, according to Victor Radley, who said he hoped to line up alongside both representative forwards for the Tricolours next season.

Fifita quit the Gold Coast Titans  to sign a $3.3 million, four-year deal with the Roosters on Thursday, turning down an offer of $2.55 million over three years from the Panthers.

It has been expected the arrival of Fifita at Bondi Junction would force fellow back-rower Crichton out of the club. But Radley said he could not recall Crichton being in better form and that he believed there was no such thing as having too many players in the one position.

“It gets proven all the time; you want as many quality players as you can – David is a quality player,” Radley told this masthead.

As for Crichton’s form, which has him back in the NSW Origin conversation, Radley said: “Everyone has been raving about his form because of last weekend’s game against Brisbane.

“But I’ve seen that coming the whole time. He had a tough year [mentally] last year, but he’s come out of it, and said to himself, ‘I’m going to train as hard as I can, I’m going to get fit and strong, and I’m going to get back to [the form] when I was the Australian back-rower’.

“He set his mind to what he wants to do, and he’s gone and done it. He’s an absolute beast. He trains at 100 per cent, plays at 100 per cent, and he’s someone you want in your side.

“I’m not in charge of those [recruitment and retention] decisions. But I’m sure they’re looking at keeping him. He’s a freak.

“I’d love him to stay at the Roosters. I also want him to do what he wants, whether that’s rugby, going to another team. I’m not good enough to be poached by rugby. If I was in his shoes, I’d do whatever I’d want to do.”

On paper, Penrith’s need for a back-rower is greater than that of the Roosters, where Trent Robinson has Egan Butcher (2025), Siua Wong (2026), and Nat Butcher and Sitili Tupouniua on the books until 2027. Crichton is off contract at the end of this year.

The Roosters will have a $4 million war chest at the end of the year due to the departures of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Joey Manu, Luke Keary and Joseph Suaalii, which would make it easier for them to retain Crichton – though the Kangaroo is entitled to dig his heels in for a similar salary to Fifita’s.

The question of how six representative backs would fit into five positions at the Roosters was asked over the summer, only for suspension, concussion and injuries to sideline Billy Smith, Dominic Young, Daniel Tupou, and James Tedesco at different stages this year.

Crichton was in talks with French rugby club Montpellier for the 2025 season, but negotiations were put on hold once the club dropped into the relegation zone. The Top 14 competition finishes next month, but Crichton could have sorted his future by then.

Former Souths teammate Damien Cook said he had been impressed by Crichton’s return to form, and hoped he would shelve plans to switch codes.

“He’s one of the best back-rowers in the game, he’s still got plenty to offer – he can always go to France laster,” Cook said.

Radley, who will definitely play on Sunday against the Warriors after overcoming a hamstring injury, joined Cook to help launch the Beer, Footy and Food Festival, which features six NSW Cup games over two days at North Sydney Oval next weekend.

Crichton prepares for Penrith home-coming

Stephen Crichton expects his former Panthers teammates to be a nuisance on Friday when he plays them for the first time since joining the Bulldogs.

He will also return to BlueBet Stadium for the first time. Another Panther-turned-Bulldog, Viliame Kikau, will do the same after missing last year’s fixture due to injury.

“Pretty exciting, going up against the boys again, especially playing over there as well,” Crichton said.

“I don’t kind of know how it’s going to be running out there, whether it’s going to be a cheer or a boo. But really excited for our boys to go out there, and it’s obviously going to be the biggest challenge for our team as well with the reigning champs.”

Crichton, a three-time premiership-winning centre with Penrith, said he would keep a close eye on good friends Brian To’o and Sunia Turuva.

“Mostly Bizza [To’o] and Tito [Turuva], they’re my closest mates anyway, so I’ve been calling them a few nights as well, just catching up with them, but it’s more joking around and going to put it on each other, things like that,” he said.

“Obviously, going to be different on the opposite side [of the field to them] this week, so anything to get the win ... Brian is on our side [of the field], so it would be pretty funny if he’s in a tackle because he’ll probably be pulling on my headgear or saying something stupid in my ear.”

For Crichton, it’s not just about getting one up on his old teammates as the Bulldogs emerge as a more competitive side in 2024.

With four wins for the season, and just a two-point loss to Melbourne last month, Crichton believes the Bulldogs can play finals football this year. He said Friday’s game against would be the perfect gauge of whether they are top-eight worthy.

“It’s going to be our biggest challenge and to see definitely where we are on the ladder, and as a team as well, to test our systems and test everything that we’ve been training for,” he said. “There’s no better team to do it up against than the reigning premiers.”

Cameron Ciraldo is also going up against his former club. The Canterbury head coach was an assistant under Ivan Cleary for the Panthers’ 2021 and 2022 premierships.

“I think he [Ciraldo] would be having the same feelings as myself going up against our former team,” Crichton said. “Just preparing the best that we can so that when we come onto that field we know that we’re not going to get much as well, especially with the type of footy that they’re playing.

“They’re a good side, and they’ve got strike all over the park, and we definitely have to be at our best.”

Timely return for Latrell as injury-hit Rabbitohs bring in rookies

Latrell Mitchell will return among a sea of rookies for South Sydney on Saturday as interim head coach Ben Hornby patches together an injury-riddled side.

Mitchell will start at fullback for the clash with the Dragons after serving a three-week suspension for elbowing Warriors playmaker Shaun Johnson in the face.

Former Cowboys player Gehamat Shibasaki will line up alongside Mitchell on the wing after being brought into the squad on a week-to-week basis to cover the multimillion-dollar list of injured players, which includes Cameron Murray, Dean Hawkins, Campbell Graham, Tyrone Munro and Jye Gray.

Dion Teaupa and Matt French have also been promoted to the team, while veteran winger Alex Johnston has been named in the reserves but looks unlikely to start this weekend.

The Roosters are set to get an injection of talent after their victory in Brisbane last week, with enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves returning to play his 300th game for the club against the Warriors on Sunday.

Spencer Leniu comes into the team after serving an eight-match ban for a racial slur in the Tricolours’ season opener in Las Vegas, alongside Daniel Tupou who is back on the wing and Victor Radley at lock.

Nathan Cleary returns for the Panthers after being rested during the victory over the Rabbitohs last week, and Paul Alamoti starts in the centres for Izack Tago, who is serving a week suspension for a hip-drop tackle on Jye Gray.

Eels young gun Blaize Talagi gets a start at fullback for their match against the Broncos while skipper Clint Gutherson is injured. The Broncos lose Adam Reynolds to a biceps injury, with Josh Rogers coming in to pair up with Ezra Mam in the halves.

Api Koroisau returns after a back injury sidelined him last week, but the Wests Tigers will be without halfback Aidan Sezer, who will miss four games for a hip drop on Josh Curran.

Elsewhere, Ben Trbojevic returns for the Sea Eagles for the first time since round six for their clash with the Dolphins on Thursday, while the Dolphins also have a number of players coming back from injury, including Herbie Farnworth and Kenny Bromwich.

How fighting loss produced key gain for Wests Tigers

Sunia Turuva has revealed the Wests Tigers’ refusal to give up against premiers Penrith in Bathurst last month convinced him to sign a three-year $1.3 million deal with the club.

Panthers flyer Turuva said he was also close to joining St George Illawarra, but there was too much upside to Benji Marshall’s team to turn down.

He said the only drawback would be if the Tigers committed to calling Accor Stadium home from next year, with the venue so empty and quiet during the Panthers’ victory over Souths on Thursday that players could hear each other talk on the field.

“Watching their [Tigers] footy this year, you can tell they’re heading in the right direction,” Turuva said.

“I know results haven’t been going their way, but they’ve been hanging in there for 80 minutes – the last couple of years they would have given up at half-time or with 20 minutes to go.

“I can definitely see, from the outside looking in, they’re heading in the right direction, and that’s something that encouraged me to go with them.

“The scoreboard might not have shown it, but they made us fight for it [in Bathurst].

“I hadn’t decided by then, and it wasn’t until coach [Ivan Cleary] gave me the week off; it was good not to focus on the footy and just focus on the contract. Big ups to ‘Ive’ for letting me have that week off to deal with that stuff.”

Turuva met Dragons coach Shane Flanagan and Tigers counterpart Marshall, whose laid-back approach reminded him of Cleary.

He also heard good reports about the club from Api Koroisau and Panthers teammate Daine Laurie, while Penrith favourite Jarome Luai will make the switch at the end of this year.

Turuva scored one try and set up two in the win over Souths, and spent the final minutes at fullback.

The Fijian is open to remaining on the wing at the Tigers, but knows he can slot into fullback and even the centres if required.

The win over Souths was played in front of 8000 fans, which skipper Isaah Yeo said felt more like 4000 fans.

“Hopefully, we can pack it out a bit more than they [Souths] did on Thursday night,” Turuva said when reminded the Tigers could be playing at the Sydney Olympic Park site permanently.

“When we went out there, we could hear each other talking. In a packed-out stadium, you can’t talk to the guys next to you. It was a bit of a weird one.”

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