Robo interview

[ChookMaster]

Still only young, he's 26 he's not young anymore. If you're impressed with how he performed for Samoa then you should go and watch more Tigers games next year because mediocrity seems to get you excitement. I can't believe I am witnessing the forum have a meltdown over one of the statistically worst props in the game. Keeping the ball alive is what the floor is for May lol incredible

Bro… please stop. Did you notice how many of their star players were missing? If they were there it would’ve been ALOT closer.

Im annoyed that we can let go a player who was there in every single match for us this year and frankly has showed things not many front rowers do. He can take it up, he can ball
play and he can offload. He also had 98% tackle efficiency so he didn’t miss many tackles at all but yet we can keep actual plodders.. Like someone mentioned earlier Nat was on the verge of getting dropped to Cup if it wasn’t for an injury but he is there no questions asked.

I’ll stop with the May talk now that he isn’t a Roosters player , he’s now the enemy but gee I hope this one doesn’t turn out to bite us in the ass.

Oh and also he is 25 and if you think that’s when a forward hits their prime… well eh that’s says it all for me really.

[King Salvo]

Where do you see us finishing next season?

I think they will make the 8 and then it's a new comp as far as finals go. Sure other teams have retained and or improved their squads but the Roosters still have a raft of experienced players to compliment the youngsters getting their chance to establish themselves as NRL Players.

[Bates]

Backing the youngsters by giving them the opportunities will reap dividends - too many on here have doom and gloom thoughts for season 2025.

There is enough old heads in the squad to help the youngsters shine in 2025.

Where do you see us finishing next season?

[King Salvo]

Backing the youngsters by giving them the opportunities will reap dividends - too many on here have doom and gloom thoughts for season 2025.

There is enough old heads in the squad to help the youngsters shine in 2025.

[Lydon]

Exactly what did may have to do with the loses from 2020 to 2022?
perhaps instead of a second season under 50 game player to be the difference perhaps some of our higher paid - senior players were the ones supposed to step up first?
Manu went missing, suaali was poor until the last month! Keary has been shit for years, jwh wasn’t on the field, b smith was average! And Angus / Collins and Spencer being on a lot bigger wage and games then May fell off post origin and didn’t step up when they were suppose to be
May had a big engine plays big minutes and I’d take 140mtr over 5 runs a game Collins or 1-2 off the back fence runs from Spencer before he is gone
May was Samoa best forward in a well beaten team I think he can hold his own

Totally agree,especially when some of the coaches favourites on higher wages continued to get picked irrespective of form..

Something just doesn’t add up,but I guess we have no choice but to grin and bear it..

[ChookMaster]

The fundamental issue is that it’s inefficient.

Runs are not infinite, therefore that workload is better off being shared amongst a group of players for a higher yielding result.

As I already posted out of the 96 players in the NRL to play prop this year Terrell May ranked 83rd for average metres per run. That puts him in the bottom 15% of prop forwards for average metres per run. No prop in the game had more sub 8m carries than May, that is an inefficient use of your resources as a team.

Nafahu Whyte on the other ranked 6th for average metres per run which puts him in the top 10% of props in the game. Spencer Leniu ranked 12th which puts him in the top 15%. Va’a’s sample size is way too small but his metres per run in the NSW Cup was very strong and in his one game of NRL he was averaging over 10 metres per run which are good signs he’s physically ready.

There’s questions that I think need to be asked about May;
1. Does he offer enough in other areas of the game to justify some inefficiencies in yardage?
2. Can May improve his yardage carries or is this just the style of player that he is?
3. How effective was our offload game against the top sides and is that an issue that needs to be addressed within the way we play?
4. Do we need attacking middles?
5. Can we put together a more efficient prop rotation with the players already at the club?

I understand the argument that we shouldn’t have let May go but if we identified that our style of play is not going to get us to a premiership and we needed to change then I also understand the argument to release Terrell May. Trent Robinson has always based his packs around power running middle forwards blended with some hard working defenders. Terrell May never fitted into either category.

2023 Stats for T may.

10 Runs for 101 M per game. That seems like 10 meters per run to me no?

This year our style drastically changed and I think that’s more got to do with it than May himself.


He was selected for FG based off pretty much every game he was playing in cup he was running for 200M plus.

He can certainly do it and like I mentioned it will be interesting to see if Benji asks him to be more direct

[milanja]

It's not about blaming him as much as we're in a bit of a rebuild and it's as good a time as any to review what and how we want this team to play.

I've posted many times on this over the last year but I thought our balance was off for 2024, without going into too much depth we were an overpowered attacking outfit. If the plan is to reign that in given the departures of Manu, Keary and Bsmtih injury/ impending departure then letting May go makes sense. As would signing someone like Reece Robson.

It's not about blaming anyone, just presenting the other side of the argument for consideration because I'm seeing a lot of posts saying it makes no sense or they could never understand why we would get rid of him. I think there is a logical reason and it should be at the least considered.

I know you are not Robbo, so don’t expect you to answer like you are, but you give good insight and foresight.

with the bold part, how do we explain the signing of Fifita then? He is all about attacking, not doing the hard yards, and a pretty poor defender.

I don’t see how he is a Robbo player, regardless of the style we play, yet we signed him. Then, we pursued Hunt, but were only prepared to offer him 500k, it seemed like a half arsed attempt, and like it didn’t seem to matter if we signed him or not.

[Bates]

Do I really need to explain to you what's wrong with a prop making 7 metres a run? You guys are obsessed with a completely mid forward. He was Samoa's best lol Samoa got smashed

Errr . Talk to Robbo who wanted him to focus on offloads and second phase play. Bending the line and yardage was not his primary role!

Find me another NRL Prop that can play 80 minutes???

[Chook2]

Still only young, he's 26 he's not young anymore. If you're impressed with how he performed for Samoa then you should go and watch more Tigers games next year because mediocrity seems to get you excitement. I can't believe I am witnessing the forum have a meltdown over one of the statistically worst props in the game. Keeping the ball alive is what the floor is for May lol incredible

He is 25 and that is when many front rowers start to hit their peak

[Chook2]

Do I really need to explain to you what's wrong with a prop making 7 metres a run? You guys are obsessed with a completely mid forward. He was Samoa's best lol Samoa got smashed

That’s the point
he was in a loosing team and was their best player - not just a player who performs when you win by 50
and they lost by 3 tries
and it was against a good international England side so playing good players

[SamKerrSimp]

Oh my goodness. This is a shocker.

You are seriously saying May did nothing in the tests? Mate he was one of their best I have no idea where you got that one from. He played long minutes and got through a mountain of work for them which hey btw some posters on here will brag about Nat or Lindsay doing a bunch of ruck work and effort but will now downplay May for doing the same.

He certainly went away from his power game that he was known for, he started ball playing more and looking to throw it rather than tuck it under and hit it up but that also contributed to points in some games you know, he did keep the ball alive in a lot of plays for us.

He’s still only young and has a heap of potential maybe Benji will instruct him to be more direct. I am very keen to see him develop

Still only young, he's 26 he's not young anymore. If you're impressed with how he performed for Samoa then you should go and watch more Tigers games next year because mediocrity seems to get you excitement. I can't believe I am witnessing the forum have a meltdown over one of the statistically worst props in the game. Keeping the ball alive is what the floor is for May lol incredible

[SamKerrSimp]

May was Samoa best forward
what’s wrong with cracking 20 hit ups and 140mtr?
Better then a Collins 5 runs for 40 mtr
sitili was different he was overpaid on $600k and playing res grade it was a no brainer to move him on as it was an incorrect call
not someone on $450k who we had for a bargain and talked about for nsw who was looking to start next year and allready loosing jwh
with origin when Collins and Spencer are out who play front row?
whyte then a scary butcher combo?

Do I really need to explain to you what's wrong with a prop making 7 metres a run? You guys are obsessed with a completely mid forward. He was Samoa's best lol Samoa got smashed

[HunchoRooster]

Exactly what did may have to do with the loses from 2020 to 2022?
perhaps instead of a second season under 50 game player to be the difference perhaps some of our higher paid - senior players were the ones supposed to step up first?
Manu went missing, suaali was poor until the last month! Keary has been shit for years, jwh wasn’t on the field, b smith was average! And Angus / Collins and Spencer being on a lot bigger wage and games then May fell off post origin and didn’t step up when they were suppose to be
May had a big engine plays big minutes and I’d take 140mtr over 5 runs a game Collins or 1-2 off the back fence runs from Spencer before he is gone
May was Samoa best forward in a well beaten team I think he can hold his own

Tend to agree mate.

[Chook2]

Anyone blaming T. May for any of our shite performances last season needs to have a lay down. We have been easy beats to Riff and Melb in the majority of contests since 2020, long before T. May cracked the first 17 or was even at the club.

I also don't believe it's a case of the chookpen/fan base over rating T. May as it is the Roosters brass over rating a large chunk of our squad, particularly the forwards, by making the decision to keep them around over May.

I don't think anyone in their right mind would look at our pack last year and say yep this bloke who makes 5 late offloads a game and almost never gets brought down in a tackle is the reason we are off the pace.

Moving on from him, that's fine and good. Decision has been made. Robinson needs to back it up, as he has played the role of TedX presenter more than first grade coach in recent seasons. 2021 being his last great year of substance.

Exactly what did may have to do with the loses from 2020 to 2022?
perhaps instead of a second season under 50 game player to be the difference perhaps some of our higher paid - senior players were the ones supposed to step up first?
Manu went missing, suaali was poor until the last month! Keary has been shit for years, jwh wasn’t on the field, b smith was average! And Angus / Collins and Spencer being on a lot bigger wage and games then May fell off post origin and didn’t step up when they were suppose to be
May had a big engine plays big minutes and I’d take 140mtr over 5 runs a game Collins or 1-2 off the back fence runs from Spencer before he is gone
May was Samoa best forward in a well beaten team I think he can hold his own

[Bates]

Robbo mentioned that Santa's coming early this year so i'm already waiting by the fireplace and have cleaned the chimney.

Thanks for the heads up Robbo