Terrell May approached to leave

[BTRD]

The whole ' saga ' is strange.

The club should make an official statement I believe.

[Bansai Pipeline]

I'm pretty sickened by the club booting him for being honest about what 100% of people feel about their jobs.

If anything he sounds like he's slightly depressive. Good on him for being honest about his battles. I know I have the same ones.

Tyrell was a standout performer this season.

Despite his interview he put it and was among our best.

Trent is cooked.

Silly French buffoon of a bloke.

[top_joe]

It's not his first love in life but recognises it is his best way to pay the bills and get ahead in life.

Well known that most NBA players fall out of love with the game, not doubt happens all across the world.

He just said it out loud.

[Rooster_6]

You obviously missed RCG signing with the Titans....

I don't buy this BS that it was because of an interview in September where May said somedays he doesn't want to be an NRL player.
He has been clear & vocal about his lack of motivation plenty of times in the past - it's the coaches job to motivate the player and unlock the passion, it is literally ALL someone like Wayne Bennett does.

Sounds like Robbo has just given up because he doesn't fit a certain ideology which is concerning because no 2 players are the same.
Wouldn't surprise me if he just wants an entire team made up of Nat Butchers because they just turn up everyday

If you need motivation from your coach there's bigger issues at play.

["gaz"]

I wrote the story that ended Terrell May’s Roosters career … and there’s more to it

by Adrian Proszenko
Chief Rugby League Reporter

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/nrl/...07-p5kol3.html


Apparently, I have blood on my hands.

The Roosters have told Terrell May to move on while the ink is barely dry on his contract extension and recent accounts suggest it’s got nothing to do with the club’s salary cap situation, their need to cover for injured stars Sam Walker and Brandon Smith or the surplus of forwards they have on their books.

No, evidently the reason the Roosters are marching May towards the exit relates to an interview I conducted with him at Kensington’s Bar Lucio in mid-August, and the story that was subsequently published by this masthead on the eve of the finals about a month later.
Over the course of an hour, May offered up his life story. Sharing it was a chance to give the fans a rare insight into why his relationship with rugby league has been a complicated one.

May initially played football to please his father, then because his siblings Taylan and Tyrone – who both played at NRL level before running into off-field dramas – were good at it. Because football provided a better life to a family that struggled to put food on the table while growing up in housing commission lodgings in Mount Druitt. Because there were teachers who overlooked him for the school footy team and told him he would never amount to anything. Because of the scrutiny the game put on his family. Because there were other things he was also passionate about, like again working in the disability sector. Because he wants to be his own man.

“I hate getting compared to my brothers, we’re all different,” he told me.

At times, it became too much; on two occasions, at the age of 18 and 20, he walked away from the game, revealing, “I just didn’t want to play any more”.

“It’s a weird feeling. I don’t think many people experience it where one week they love the game and go on the TV screens and the next week they don’t want to be there at all,” May said at the time.

“Sometimes I just feel I could quit, like in a day. It sounds a bit weird, but I get those thoughts sometimes where I’m just like, ‘Is this really for me? I’m very grateful to be where I am and play with the Roosters, but rugby league isn’t the whole of me’.
“Then you just look at the bigger picture. You need to support your family and I couldn’t do it without footy. I have aspirations to take the club to the grand final and to play for NSW.”
Of all of the conversations I’ve had with footballers for over a quarter of a century, this was one of the most candid. Sadly, given the fallout, maybe fans can expect less of it in the future.
May’s sentiments have been seized upon as the reason he has been tapped on the shoulder. There has also been a narrative pushed that there were cultural reasons for the decision, prompting him to post on his Instagram account: “Nothing to do with off-field stuff.”
Neither explanation holds water. There is nothing the Roosters would have read about May that they didn’t know already.

There is no doubt May is different. The 25-year-old has a quirky sense of humour, one the public rarely sees. When Herald photographer Louise Kennerley asked to take a photo of him without his bum bag, he politely declined because he wanted to be seen as his authentic self. He’s also abstained from social media for long periods over concerns about how he will be portrayed.
“That’s just the way I am, all the boys know I just mock everything and I take nothing serious,” he said.

‘I just mock everything and I take nothing serious’
Terrell May

“I forget there are all these cameras now. It’s hard because I try to be myself on the camera as well, but it just doesn’t work out. It just always gets me in trouble, so just trying to stay away from that stuff.”
Suggestions he’s failed a character test at the Roosters are also off the mark. At a time when the club got heat for handing lifelines to Matt Lodge, Brandon Smith and Michael Jennings – each arrived at Bondi Junction hauling considerable baggage – May has given the club no cause for concern.

Indeed, such has been May’s rise that he played all 27 games for the Roosters this season, including an 80-minute performance at prop. If he wasn’t fully committed to rugby league, he wouldn’t have embarked on an off-season tour to England, to represent Samoa, while his wife was pregnant. He wouldn’t have been crowned the Rugby League Players’ Association inaugural impact player of the year if he wasn’t committed.

Further, it makes little sense for the Roosters to be badmouthing a player when they’re trying to get another club to buy him.
So how did we get here?
The truth is that the Roosters roster is forward heavy, as evidenced by young gun Siua Wong struggling to crack first grade for most of last season. May’s style of play, viewed internally as being less compatible with the team’s future direction, coupled with holes in the roster that need filling, have conspired against him. Unfortunately for May, it has made him the player most dispensable.

On the cusp of Origin selection, May has plenty to offer and will ultimately find he fits in better somewhere else. The next chapter will only add to one of sport’s most intriguing stories. We shouldn’t be discouraging him from telling it.

[A Country Member]

He has a 2yr contract totalling 900k, don't know where you pulled 2m from.

There's no chance someone like Newcastle or the Dogs don't snap him up at 500k a year.

I think that’s part of the reason that offered a release. The club realises they have an asset that could easily be ‘sold’ and the player would likely get a pay upgrade. Especially given that money seems to be a large motivation for Terrell. Somewhat win/win

Brandon on the other hand maybe wouldn’t command as much interest had they offered the same, which if you believe what you hear, could’ve happened had he not been injured.

[mightyrooster]

There was also a mention of him being a bad influence on Spencer and Wong.

If that is the case then I have no issues with him leaving.

Of course none of us know what has happened behind the scenes and are relying on what the media has outlined that has happened. There could be plenty more to the story that nobody knows and nobody should know.

Exactly right.

[Inflictor]

There was also a mention of him being a bad influence on Spencer and Wong.

If that is the case then I have no issues with him leaving.

Of course none of us know what has happened behind the scenes and are relying on what the media has outlined that has happened. There could be plenty more to the story that nobody knows and nobody should know.

[PLV012]

I'm a Butcher bros fan & a May fan... stating the obvious, but getting that right balance of talent & temperament will get the success we are chasing, ...I think our spine needs more attention than middles (plenty of cattle there atm)... the cold hard truth of professional sport, no one really cares how you feel, you are paid & expected to perform... there are plenty behind you (where you once were) that will jump at any opportunity. Just my 2c worth.

E2W
RWB

[mightyrooster]

You obviously missed RCG signing with the Titans....

I don't buy this BS that it was because of an interview in September where May said somedays he doesn't want to be an NRL player.
He has been clear & vocal about his lack of motivation plenty of times in the past - it's the coaches job to motivate the player and unlock the passion, it is literally ALL someone like Wayne Bennett does.

Sounds like Robbo has just given up because he doesn't fit a certain ideology which is concerning because no 2 players are the same.
Wouldn't surprise me if he just wants an entire team made up of Nat Butchers because they just turn up everyday

Really? Bennett and Bellamy get rid of plenty of players that don’t fit their ideas or don’t come with the right attributes. Milford was dumped by Bennett as he was told to improve his attitude, his fitness, his motivation, he didn’t and was only used sparingly last year as a last resort. There have been plenty of players that Bellamy has cut also.

[dice]

I can’t pick it, he is one of our only forwards who consistently get some second phase play, I get in a team sport, you want everyone to “buy in” to the psycho babble that is overused these days, but I wonder how many players honestly feel the same way as May, but just keep it to themselves.

Even in our own jobs there are many things that we can't say about how we feel. Especially if you are earning big bucks, you stfu and lead by example by maintaining a professional and positive attitude. If you want to take a MHD then get a lowly paid government office job.

[milanja]

Yes, at times I felt he has been dancing around too much instead of using his big frame to bend the line.

I can’t pick it, he is one of our only forwards who consistently get some second phase play, I get in a team sport, you want everyone to “buy in” to the psycho babble that is overused these days, but I wonder how many players honestly feel the same way as May, but just keep it to themselves.

[dice]

after hearing this, can anyone think of many games where he didn’t put in? Just because he says he doesn’t have league as his number one priority, doesn’t mean he isn’t doing his job.

Yes, at times I felt he has been dancing around too much instead of using his big frame to bend the line.

[Headless Chook]

You obviously missed RCG signing with the Titans....

I don't buy this BS that it was because of an interview in September where May said somedays he doesn't want to be an NRL player.
He has been clear & vocal about his lack of motivation plenty of times in the past - it's the coaches job to motivate the player and unlock the passion, it is literally ALL someone like Wayne Bennett does.

Sounds like Robbo has just given up because he doesn't fit a certain ideology which is concerning because no 2 players are the same.
Wouldn't surprise me if he just wants an entire team made up of Nat Butchers because they just turn up everyday

You really think Bennett has been able to find what makes every player tick? Bellamy has failed as well with different players. Some guys don't want to be motivated, you can't make a person do something they don't want to do and at the end of the day, if they don't want to buy into what you're trying to create you cut them loose.

[milanja]

I feel for him, seems like he is just saying what he feels.

after hearing this, can anyone think of many games where he didn’t put in? Just because he says he doesn’t have league as his number one priority, doesn’t mean he isn’t doing his job.

If he isn’t picked up by another club, would the roosters not select him in their top 17, even though he is close to our best front rower?