Roosters suffer major blow after prized recruit Reece Robson sidelined

[Red.]

The Sydney Roosters have suffered a major blow on the eve of the NRL season, with a star recruit ruled out for up to two months with a broken hand.

Tyson Jackson and George Al-Akiki
February 18, 2026 - 7:37PM



The Sydney Roosters have suffered a major blow on the eve of the NRL season, with star recruit Reece Robson ruled out for up to two months with a broken hand.

Robson, who had been named in the Roosters’ trial team to take on Parramatta on Saturday, will miss the next six to eight weeks with the hand injury.



The NSW origin hooker is a crucial signing for the Roosters in 2026, and his injury setback is a significant blow to the club’s new-look spine.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson has two options to replace Robson at dummy half; young gun Benaiah Ioelu trialled well against the Wests Tigers last week, or veteran utility Connor Watson could slot back into hooker after spending the off-season training at lock.

The Roosters travel to Auckland to face the New Zealand Warriors in round one in a fortnight.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sp...755f30ca20eb1f

[Chook2]

Ffs
and it starts again

[SamKerrSimp]

No big deal, gives Ioelu more game time which is a good thing but also a bad thing because he will shine and get attention from other clubs then leave at the end of the year.

[Bates]

Farks sake.

[Mickie Lane]

Not good
Next man up, Ioelu.

[Mickie Lane]

Ffs
and it starts again

Its just the way it is the Dogs are going through the same thing.

[Chook2]

It’s just the way it is the Dogs are going through the same thing.

Might actually do us a favour
Hopefully Brailey pushed for SOO while Robson is out and when he comes back Robson just plays for chooks and misses SOO
just sad when it’s a $800k recruit about to play their first game

id Start Ioelu and keep Watson as the 14 to start his run at 14

[MKCS]

It's sad but the great thing about the Roosters this year is our depth. Watson to hooker where he played last year and was dominant with Ioelu on the bench.

[Mickie Lane]

Might actually do us a favour
Hopefully Brailey pushed for SOO while Robson is out and when he comes back Robson just plays for chooks and misses SOO
just sad when it’s a $800k recruit about to play their first game

id Start Ioelu and keep Watson as the 14 to start his run at 14

Me too

[mightyrooster]

Just absolutely fantastic! We can’t take a trick with injuries.

[milanja]

was it at training or elsewhere?

[QWERTY]

Could be worse, a broken hand with a projected round 4-5 return is quite good considering some of the bad luck we’ve had in recent years

[A Country Member]

Didn’t Brandon Smith suffer the same fate as few years back?

[roosterproud]

maybe be a wild thought but instead of moving Watto around , but start Hugo in the nine. 3 halves on the field and only one of them has a big kick. Take him off after the first 30 minutes or so and bring on Benny. Watto stays fresh

[top_joe]

Need need to bring Joey back then, there's no other way around it.