IN THE CHOOK PEN with 'Mr Sombrero'

You laughed at me. Wow. Welcome, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome to the Muttley crew. And we are here in the Game Rain Boulevard. My name's Jack. The Game Rain. And I'm here with Kyle and Cody. And we are the Muttley crew. And we're here to talk Rubber League. The Boomerang's brother. To keep on talking about the Rubber League preseason 2025. And we are time. It is time to enter the Chook Pen. And have a little preview of the mighty Sydney Roosters. or the chickens, whatever you want to call them.

And I'll lead it to you, Kyle. My name's Kyle. Kyle. Kyle. Yeah, mate. Sydney Roosters 2025, mate. Premiers, lock it in already. Jesus Christ. Well, the New South Wales Cup, they get relegated. Well, basically, well, with the list of losses we've had, you'd think that our team would be a New South Wales Cup team this year.

Well, you're starting well, mate, because before we get to whatever you're talking about, I just realized we have to talk about the results of the preseason for the Roosters. And they finished on the bottom. You've already spoken about one. Bottom of the cup. They got bottom of the cup with a couple of bad losses. First week, they lost 26-8 to the Dragons. Yep. And then if you didn't know already, then they lost to the mighty Newcastle Knights. Some pleb team. 48-10.

And that was with a consolation trial at the end there. Remember Knights fan, trials don't matter. They don't count. It is a pre-season cup. Yeah. When they came last. I love how quickly he changes that. So somehow they're going to come 17 from the pre-season cup to minor premiership. If you just want a quick stat there, mate, from a random stats guy, every team that's finished last in the pre-season challenge has made the finals.

So... Oh, you like that one, don't you? Yeah. And every team that's won the pre-season cup has missed the finals. Has come 10th. 10th exactly. All three times? There's only been two so far. That's what I say, and the Broncos has gone for it this year. Oh, it is two. Yeah, this is the third one. Broncos won it. So last two times, yeah, the winners come 10th. I'll tell you what, though. We have had some absolute talent leave us, starting with Michael Jennings.

I didn't even realize he left, but he's retired now, apparently.

The Silver Fox himself. Yeah. But yeah, Luke Keery, Joey Manu, Sawali, Tupanua, Hargraves, and then Terrell May as well. That's a lot of talent that's left to squad. A couple big holes out of there. Dude, enoughies, mate. All of them would... Couldn't have the real change of having to put their foot on the ball. Yeah, well, that's why Hargraves left. Yeah. And then our gains, our 2025 gains, it's a long list. Chad Townsend. It's an old list.

Yeah. Oh, and we got Toby Rodwell. I'm not too sure what that is, but he's on our list for gains. So hopefully he's... Yeah, all we need is the Chad, mate. Just the Chad. The Chad. Well, you lost a couple of halves and now you brought one in. It looks like a perfect fit. Big footy guy. Big team guy. Big culture guy. Vibes guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Oh, shit. And then, yeah, we obviously don't have Sammy Walker and Brandon Smith for the first probably half to three quarters of the season. Leading into my first question, What do you think the Roosters, in the time that they're out, because they're due back probably, what, halfway through the season, you reckon? I'm not really sure. I think the number that's been floated around is around 18. Is it that late? Yeah. I think semi-walkers ahead of schedule,

but I think Brendan Smith's 18. I thought it was more about that mid-season. That's what I was going to try and say. Where do you think they need to be? I think the earliest that Walker could probably get back is maybe 15. Right. But there's nothing been really confirmed for them. There's still a bit. I was going to say, where do you reckon your win-loss needs to be? Whereabouts do you need to sort of keep afloat for when Walker and Smitty come back into your team? Well, that's a good question.

To have a chance of making the finals. Because I looked at our first two months and it is fucked. So in the first 10 rounds, we versed the Broncos round one, Panthers round two. Then we have three weeks where we, they're 50-50 games where we versed the Warriors, the Rabbitohs and the Titans. Oh yeah. That's. Those are three massive games. That's a big swing. Because then we versus the Broncos and Panthers again. We have the Broncos and Panthers twice in the first 10 rounds.

You're just as likely as going, bloody, 0-10 as he is. Oh, man. And they are big swing games in the middle. Yeah. Because you don't know what you're going to get out of there. And then round nine is the Dragons. On the up. And then 10's the bye. So the first 10 rounds is tough. Yeah. You could be the big fella over here. Yeah. Old Jakey boy. Yeah, so those three games in the middle, if we can get through to round 10 and have at least four dubs.

You'd be happy. I'll be happy. Because it's going to be a tough. I'm expecting three, because I reckon we'll probably drop one of those middle three. Well, I'm hoping we don't drop any more than one of those middle three. I'm not expecting to beat the Broncos or the Panthers either time. I reckon we have a chance to beat the Broncos round one. I don't think, though we do have a fairly good record when we come to the Suncorp the last couple of times. Come to the Suncorp.

Yep, the Suncorp. So I'd be stoked if we can get a steal one off the Broncos early. I don't see it. So we can't beat Bedruth. And to make it worse, that Warriors game's in New Zealand. That's it, yeah. And then the Dragons game is Anzac game. So you know, that's going to be a big game. And South always step up for a Rooster South game. Fucking hell. There's a really good chance that we buy our first points, but we definitely need to win the Titans game.

And you've got Dolphins and Magic rounds, so that is a hard first 10 rounds, Bella. Sorry about that. Yeah. Honestly, today was the first day I looked at our extended draw for the first start of the season, and I'm going, fuck.

We're in trouble. And then, yeah, so to sort of answer your question, if we can be, like with Walker coming back, In around about that 15 to 18 mark, maybe earlier, I'm hoping. If we could have, if we could be about seven wins. If it's earlier, but up towards that 10 mark. If we can be about 50-50, 500 by the time he comes back, I reckon that'll be enough to push us in. After watching them against the Knights, their defense looks fucking horrendous.

I'm not expecting the attack to be there early. Yeah. But I know Robbo's always instilled the defensive side of them. And over the last few years, that's probably been lacking a little bit. But they let through some soft tries in that trial game. Definitely. So if they can tighten up their defense, I'll be a bit more excited. Knowing that with a whole new halves combination, it's going to be a little clunky on the offensive end.

Well, leading into that, on top of that last question to add in there, your man, Shannon Smith, you've been doing nothing but gloat about him and love on him for the last couple of years. He came in at the back end of last year and he was a little bit hit and miss, inexperienced. There was some finals game, so you can understand why he might not have been. Is he the real deal? Do you reckon he can come in and be that reliable player and steer the team until Walker gets back?

Yeah, I think he can be. Not taking anything away from Townshead, obviously, but he's probably going to be the one to... Townsend wasn't there to be in the team. Yeah. He was a backup. Yeah. So I do think it's going to be interesting. I do think he can be that guy. It was obviously a bit hard for him last year because he's been coming off the bench and then filling that hooker role. But when he was in the Reggies, he was that go-to halfback leading the squad around.

I think it would be good for him early in the season to have Chad as his halfback. I think that's actually a really good thing for him. So it will be... It will be interesting to see whether he's ready to step up because this will be his first season where he knows he's going to be a half. Oh, yeah. This is the first time he'll have a full preseason training as a half, running with the squad. Absolutely. So he's got all the tools there to take it.

But he did look very rough, rusty in that trial game against the Knights, not clicking. I want him to look good because it's going to be really hard to watch Kyle fall out of love with him. Yeah. He's been doing nothing but love on him the last couple of seasons, and if this year, what a breakup that'd be. Oh, man. Because you've been number one singing his praises. Oh, man. I've been high on him since. Like, I've been calling for years for Kiri to be dropped and him to come into the team.

So this is the year. This is the defining moment of our relationship.

This is the pivotal point because if he doesn't turn up, I will be off him. I think you'll give him a chance, though. Oh, mate. When he's come bottom four this year, you'll give him one more chance because you know he was. While Chad's there, I'm not too worried about what he does. He's learned, like for the first two months, especially this hard draw to start, for the first two months, he's just getting used to being one of the lead half or one of the halves for this Roosters side.

Before, at the back end of last year, like that whole season, he'd been training at nine, maybe filling a hole if there was an injury. And it wasn't until the back end when Walk went down that they were like, oh, you're now our, you know, halfback. Yeah. And this year he's not the halfback, he's 5'8". You're even run it. I think it would be good for him to be learning off Chad. And we know what Chad's like in his first season with new teams.

And on that, where, you know, because the Knights got so many halves options. We got none. You've got none. So that sort of plays into his favor a bit and helps him because he's not like, he knows that he's got it for a bit. You know, he might be a little bit scared if he's really bad that he gets drops, but Robbo will give him that time because, you know, Robbo probably knows in himself. That you'll see how it goes, but you're probably not a chance of winning.

You know, he's just got to keep the boys, getting them up, getting them up. Yeah. So Sandin, he'll get that chance. He'll get that chop. He should get a good, you know, half the season to get his fucking legs under him. He'll have that backing too, because with all the money the Roosters have got, they could go out and get a half if they really wanted to. They did, mate. Big chatty. No. Spent the money on him. That's a big contract.

Well, it's big for the Roosters. he'd be the only one on the books, wouldn't he? That's the only one they're getting taxed on. Fucking good on you, mate. But, yeah, you know, so I think he definitely has the backing of the club to perform, and he's got my backing, which is the main part. So I know he can do it. If he gives you the chairs, you'll have his back too, I'm telling you. Fucking, yeah, Sanon, absolute weapon, mate. He's going to be 5-8th of the year. Shout. Yep. Okay, Kyle. Mm-hmm.

Is the 13 plays that played for the Roosters on Sunday, is that how you see your team starting? Is that what you like? Is that how I see them starting? Yes. No, they can't because Spence are good to Spence. Yes. Well, no, that doesn't help. Everybody's throwing that out. Yeah, Spence and Lenu. Yeah, basically. Do you like Radley on the edge? I do. Or do you think he should be locked? I do like Radley on the edge. Though, who was our starting lock? Was it Nat? Wong. It was Wong.

Nah, see, I prefer Nafu White at that lock spot to start the game. Because there was a couple of games last year he started at lock, and I liked it. Lock a lot. I liked it. It's really hard because we've got quite a few blokes there that can play just bet any spot on that back line, but sometimes it doesn't work. Like Nat Butcher, I really love him, but he seemed to have dropped a little bit last year.

Because I know at the start of last season I was like, Nat Butcher, if he continues to go how he was going, could be pushing for a Blues jersey, but didn't look like he would fit a Blues jersey at all last year. No, he started looking like the second-best footballer in his family. Yeah. Yeah, and that was with Egan on the sideline with an ACL. Yeah. But that's a good thing, too. We should have Egan Butcher back at some point early on in the season from his ACL, so hopefully that's a good sign.

And then he's starting centers. Are you happy with the two rookies? That's what they're doing? There really isn't much options there for the Roosters. They are absolutely... I'd probably... The depth is gone. I know. We don't have... The last few years they've had depth on depth on depth. We'll get Billy Smith hopefully back early rounds. He's gone. He's weird. Yeah. I feel sorry for him. I know. Because he could be a weapon and he just keeps

in out, in out, in out. Such a talent. But just one of those guys that's played by injuries. To be honest, I wouldn't even mind C.O. Wong on the centres. That Robert Toyer... Really not. That Robert Toyer looked very out of place in that trial game. He was getting ripped to shreds. They're up against one of the best left edges of the left edges and their right edge of Chad Townsend, old man, slow man, and a young Robert Toyer got absolutely ripped to shreds about multiple times.

I love old trials don't matter over here. And he reckons one of the best left edges going around. Come on. But they got ripped to shreds. So it was lovely to see, but yeah, I feel sorry for the young fellow. And he was up against Chad Townsend, who was a slow man out there. Ponga was like, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep. Yeah, right. I think they would have really liked Billy Smith to get back in there. Yeah. But then they've also got Junior Ponga there as well that they can utilize.

I really like Junior Ponga, to be honest. I think he should be in the side. I know he gets caught out defensively a couple of times, but, you know, he probably just needs that time to. He must be injured too, because he wasn't even anywhere. Yeah, which is weird. He might be injured. I haven't seen anything on him, to be honest, because I thought him and Toyo were fighting it out for that right-centre spot. So, to be honest, I'd really like to see Dom Young drop. This would be a good

year to see if Trent Robinson's got it, you know what I mean? Ooh. Because he's probably going to have to coach this year. Game plans, all that sort of shit, not just give it to our good players, not just give it to Manu and hope he does something with it. And then when you lose a game, go, Oh, yeah, Manu just wasn't on it, don't I, was he? How about the whole team, brother? He just turns the fucking whiteboard around, give to Manu. If not work, Tedesco. If not work. Soali, if that not work.

Yeah, look. So I guess that leads to the final question of the day, Kyle. Do you want to admit it?

Are the Roosters in a rebuilding season? No. Sure. So we've had Your questions before You sound like you're okay With them losing matches To let Sandra Smith learn, Sounds like a bit of a rebuilding No no I'm not okay for him To lose matches, Like He just gets the opportunity That if they start losing matches There's no other options And he can keep playing Into form, The only other, like, because we're pretty short on hookers as well.

Like, not in the clubhouse, but because at the moment, we've got Connor Watson at nine, and he's probably our only other one unless we go to another rookie to play in the halves. So unless something goes stupid wrong, Sandon's pretty locked in there. But I wouldn't say we're rebuilding. We've had a lot of young talent that haven't been able to get into the team for a bit. Unfortunately, it's not the backs. Like, we've lost a lot of depth in our backs.

So, but no, not a rebuild. Not a rebuild. No, I don't, yeah, they're not bad enough to say it's a rebuild. They still, like I said, they've still got a good team. I think it's just a holding pattern because I think they want to, I think the club want to see whether these young fellas can actually step up to this level. Yeah, instead of just going out and trying to buy everything. Because, and then that allows them to see what they can do with all their money that they've got next season.

2-8 at round 10. I can't wait for him to start saying it's a rebuild of the season. It's not a rebuild. You got it on tape here, mate. It's not a rebuild. It's a hold. It's not a tumour. And to back our young fellas that haven't been able to crack it because we've had those guys in those positions. It's not too often that a team has this many people leave that were in their starting 17, all in one season. It's not a rebuild.

It's just a pause for one season until more players come off contract that we want. As Trent Robinson said, it's a change of focus. Yeah, focus. Fuck off because you're stupid. That's why we didn't, that's why we released Terrell May. You know, apparently he wasn't in their plans. I tell you what, they've created an absolute beast though. I'm happy for the Tigers. Very happy for them. Very happy. Sounds salty.

Fucking hope I'm salty. But you know, like it, it did answer, it did sort of make sense of why Terrell May got used for big minutes some games and not a lot of minutes the next game. And the biggest one for me last year was when we had the Bulldogs and we had Dom Young got sent off early. That was a great game. Injuries everywhere. We were down to left, just one bloke left on the bench, and Terrell May only played 15 minutes. I was like.

You got pumped. Oh, no, that's right. You were getting pumped. We were getting pumped, and then we almost came back. That was unreal, but yeah.

It's going to be a tough season. This is going to be one of my toughest seasons of recent times. Of the old watching. Yeah, but at least I'm kind of excited because it's one of those ones where we're coming into the season where we're not expected to win every game or like I'm not expecting us to win every game. So when we play like shit, I'll still be pissed, but not pissed to the same extent of like, I know you guys can actually play good football.

I was going to say, well, you're not going to let it control your entire fucking mood for a week? Fucking no. My entire mood for the next eight months is based on how they play. Yeah. But it's okay if they lose. Now I get the sense of what it's like to have a preseason if I was Jake Carter supporting the Knights. Trials don't matter, remember? Thank fuck for that. But how good are their left-hand side? Best in the business, I reckon. Best in the business. Oh, pun intended.

It was best, Brad and Bess. Yeah, I got it, brother. Oh, okay. Anyway. It just wasn't funny. Any final thoughts or questions about the Roosters before we wrap it up? What are you looking at me for? My final thought, they are not making finals. They're coming bottom four. It's going to be so great to see. Did you pick them bottom four? I'm second last. And when I said that, I was like, no way they're going to go that bad. But then looking at that starting 10, looking at that last trial game.

The trials that don't matter. And looking if they do get maybe one or two more injuries, they could be proper fucked this year. What about your first trial? Pardon? What about your first trial? That was, doesn't matter. So why does the second one matter? What's the Roosters? People were throwing out their proper teams. Yeah, I think it was. Trials don't matter, mate. They got told to take their foot off the gates. Well, trials don't matter.

You wait until our next podcast, and I can't wait to talk about all the trials. Missed the double champ belt over here. Look, anyway. Got to win something. Roosters for Premieres 2025. That 100k pays for Ezra Mim is fine. There should be more, but anyway. Yeah, bloody oath. Two and eights up for the Roosters. Can't wait. Look, that is very much on the cards. I'm a Bulldogs fan this year anyway. It doesn't matter.

Not as much as me. I had him second. Well, fuck it. I'm changing my ladder. They're first. Max has probably already booked his tickets to the grand final. Fuck Max. He got me out. First ball. Yeah, all right. Cut the stream. Cut the stream. Apples.