Roosters first grade squad set for pre-season return

The Sydney Roosters first grade squad are set to return to the training paddock on Monday, with up to 18 players to commence their preparations on day one of the 2021 NRL pre-season.

Squad members to return for week one include Sitili Tupouniua, Victor Radley, Lachlan Lam, Matt Ikuvalu and Daniel Suluka-Fifita. 

New recruit Adam Keighran is also set to join the Roosters on the first day of pre-season after he was announced on a two year deal by the Club this morning. 

There will be seven development players joining the pre-season squad, who are all eligible to play in either the Jersey Flegg (Under 21s) or S.G. Ball (Under 19s) competitions in 2021. 

The opening weeks of the pre-season are looked at as the building blocks, with the younger members of the NRL squad to set the platform for the season ahead. 

There will be limited preparation time heading into 2021 as opposed to previous seasons, which will highlight the importance of the weeks heading into the Christmas break. 

“The exception this year is that we’ve only got three weeks of prep before Christmas," Assistant Coach Matt King said when discussing the pre-season.

“Under normal circumstances, you would plan for a six to eight week period.

“With a three week period and lots of younger guys, you want them to know what it means to be a Rooster and the importance of hard work in a short window.

“They need to buy into the way that we conduct ourselves in regards to the standards and expectations that have been set at this place for a long time now.”

We like to build into our pre-season, as opposed to coming in day one and hitting the ground running.

Matt King

A number of senior players will be back to lift the level of intensity in the third week of pre-season, including Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Isaac Liu, Siosiua Taukeiaho and Joseph Manu. 

The players that took part in the State Of Origin series won't begin their 2021 preparations until January, including Captains Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend, James Tedesco, Daniel Tupou, Angus Crichton, Luke Keary and Lindsay Collins.

The pre-season will officially get underway on Monday, November 30th.