9News journalist Danny Weidler has revealed some Roosters powerbrokers feel “wronged” by the way Joseph Suaalii was sold to Rugby Australia.
In his column for The Sydney Morning Herald, Weidler says the Suaalii family personally thanked people at the Roosters for the public backing of the teenager, but “they haven’t eased the anger some are feeling about the way the deal was done”.
Suaalii signed a deal to join rugby in late 2024 on a contract said to be worth $1.6 million a year.
Weidler claims Chooks chairman Nick Politis feels he was kept in the dark by Suaalii’s agent, Isaac Moses, about how far advanced the talks with rugby had been before last week’s announcement.
Politis had helped Moses return from the wilderness last year, after the managed was deregistered by the NRL in 2020. The Roosters chairman helped facilitate a meeting with ARLC chairman Peter V’landys.
Weidler says, “each of (V’landys and Politis) would be entitled to question themselves after the events of the past fortnight regarding Suaalii”.
“Politis is not happy with the way things panned out,” he wrote.
