SYDNEY Roosters back rower Boyd Cordner says he can’t imagine playing at any other NRL club, which made it an easy decision to ink a new five-year deal with the Bondi Junction club.
The 25-year-old has committed himself to the Roosters until the end of the 2023 season.
“The reason it is such a long contract is that I can’t see myself playing with anyone else,” he told Fox Sports on Monday.
“It’s a great club. I love the memories I’ve had so far and I can’t wait to create many more.
“I’ve been blessed with so many memories and opportunities in my time with the Roosters. I’ve grown up there. I came down as a boy and grew into a man.” The Taree product has gone even further than just being one of the Roosters’ best forwards, with 38 tries from 126 games.
He’s also the NSW Origin captain and has played 16 Tests for Australia since 2013.
NAGGING PROBLEM BEFORE 2018 KICK-OFF
Sio Siua Taukeiaho and Latrell Mitchell could share the Sydney Roosters’ kicking duties this NRL season as the Tricolours grapple with the loss of superboat Michael Gordon.
Trent Robinson’s Roosters are widely considered one of the teams to beat in 2018 however one of the big question marks hanging over them is how they will fare following Gordon’s exit to the Gold Coast.
The Roosters were the masters of the clutch last year, winning an incredible 12 games by six points or less — an all-time competition record. And many of those wins came off the boot of Gordon, who nailed 72 of 92 attempts.
“There were a few games there leading into the back end of the year where we were behind and a couple of Flash’s kicks were really important,” Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner told AAP.
“If he didn’t kick some of them, we would have went to golden point or we might have lost by two.
“It was a massive part of our game last year and it’s a massive part of rugby league. It’s huge.” Without a recognised boot, kicking shapes as the Roosters’ Achilles heel. Taukeiaho and Mitchell have both kicked irregularly throughout their careers but look set to take on the duties this year.
Taukeiaho boasts a strong career success rate of 77 per cent, though he is relatively inexperienced — 30 from 39 attempts.
He booted an impressive 16 from 18 for Tonga during their successful World Cup campaign last year and seems to be the frontrunner.
Mitchell has a career strike rate of 62 per cent (21 from 34) and has only kicked intermittently over his first two seasons of first-grade. One obstacle for Taukeiaho to assume kicking duties is the fact he averaged 43.1 minutes last year and like all middle forwards he could spend fair chunks of game time on the bench.
Cordner said they could use a kick-sharing arrangement where Taukeiaho takes first priority and Mitchell takes over when he’s on the bench. “Siua Taukeiaho and Latrell Mitchell are fighting it out right now for the goal kicking duties,” Cordner said.
“Siua kicked for his country during the World Cup and he kicked really well, he’s kicked really well for the Roosters too.
“And Latrell’s been kicking awesome.” “(A kick-sharing arrangement) could be a possibility, for Siua to have first priority and then when he goes off for Latrell to take over.”
