Xavier Va'a set to leave Roosters

["gaz"]

Daily Telegraph

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...899ed45b571030


Former Broncos Academy young gun Xavier Va’a is headed for the exits at Bondi after being given permission to negotiate with rival clubs by the Roosters.

Sport Confidential can reveal Va’a will be squeezed out of the Roosters due to salary-cap pressures and is on the lookout for a new home in either 2026 or 2027.

The former Queensland under-19s captain is off-contract at the Roosters at the end of next season and has been shopped to several NRL rivals, including the Gold Coast Titans.

Va’a made his NRL debut this year, scoring a try in the Roosters’ defeat of the Sharks in round 12, but the hulking prop has struggled to get regular game time after some frustrating injuries.

The 21-year-old is hoping to resurrect his career at another NRL club, with the Roosters also having his younger brother, 20-year-old De La Salle Va’a, on their books.

The monstrous De La Salle has played two NRL games for the Roosters and hopes to ramp up his game time in 2026.

[Rooster90]

Xavier is injured more than he plays...

apparently the Titans are keen and i think the bros may be from the area

They have potential but both got leapfrogged by the likes of Losalu this year

[milanja]

His bro probably won’t be too far behind him they seem like a close family.

Angus is free to negotiate in a couple days too.

[mightyrooster]

Bit of a shame given all the development we’ve put into him. I hope his brother doesn’t follow him.

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

I'm not happy about this. I've liked what little I've seen from these bros.

[The Real King]

Just doesn’t have the stamina for the current game.
Don’t know why he couldn't improve his fitness, he is supposed to be a boxer.

De La Salle is a far better prospect.

[Thirteen]

I don’t mind. Shame we spent the last few years developing him. I’m sure he’ll be thanking Jesus.

[roosterproud]

10months off with his lungs didnt help.
as mentioned he has struggled with cardio fitness for 2 years. Hes like the big islander kid playing in a comp against little kids

[DP1990]

Can't keep them all but with the likes of Taylor Losalu playing well and on the fringe, I don't see Xavier getting a crack anytime soon.

Wish him all the best.

[ChookMaster]

10months off with his lungs didnt help.
as mentioned he has struggled with cardio fitness for 2 years. Hes like the big islander kid playing in a comp against little kids

That wasn’t him though it was his brother De La Salle that suffered that and like others have already mentioned Xavier just can’t break past the 35 minutes mark in a game.. he is a big boy but in the modern game you have to last longer than 15 mins per stint… I like De La Salle but he is the same he gets gasses pretty quickly and then doesn’t move as well around the ruck.

[Rooster90]

Just doesn’t have the stamina for the current game.
Don’t know why he couldn't improve his fitness, he is supposed to be a boxer.

De La Salle is a far better prospect.

Because he spent too many weeks injured and couldn't train

[DP1990]

On another note, as others have mentioned already, his brother De La Salle may not be far behind him as well plus he may struggle to get games as well.

[Rooster_6]

On another note, as others have mentioned already, his brother De La Salle may not be far behind him as well plus he may struggle to get games as well.

There's definitely a log jam of good young front rowers coming through but De La Salle appeared to part of Robinson's first choice prop rotation to the begin the year before he got ill and lost a stack of weight. This year was pretty much a write off for him.

Based on Robinson's selections I would say De La Salle would sit 5th or 6th in Robinson's prop rotation and would probably get selected before Losalu pending a strong off season.

[HunchoRooster]

Interesting. These guys had such big wraps on them from both fans and the club alike. However they haven’t seemed to push on from dominant juniors to first grade. I know Xavier had his health issues though.

Seems like the club are willing to move on and are confident that the other players we have who have seemingly pushed ahead in the pecking order.

[BraveTheWorld]

As always with these cases, I would love to see him go to another club for a few years and then come back here and dominate. I doubt it's anything personal - it just hasn't worked out with injuries and timing, and now Losalu has surely pushed in front of him.