B-Train
Kennel Immortal
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Paul Kent revealed the story doing the rounds about the Roosters trying to move on three senior players in Luke Keary, Jared Warea-Hargreaves and Angus Crichton to sign Cameron Munster.
Speaking on NRL 360, Kent revealed he reached out to the Roosters after hearing from multiple people in the game that the Roosters were considering an audacious play to bring the Storm star to the club when his contract is up in 2023.
“The story was that the Roosters were looking at shuffling their roster a bit to try and create some room to get Cameron Munster at the club,” Kent said on NRL 360.
“It came out after the loss to the Bulldogs the other day that there was basically some unhappiness there.
“There is questions about whether the club is going in the right direction. So therefore let’s get Munster in. He is coming up to his negotiations as we know.
“And that they were looking to move Luke Keary, Angus Crichton and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves on to create room in the cap to get him in.
“Everyone we have spoken to over the weekend have all heard the story. Nick Politis is flying home from Greece tonight so he was unavailable, so I rang Trent Robinson today and he was quite taken aback by it.
“He just said, categorically no. We have all had people lie to us on the phone, but he said to me, look if it was true I would probably have to lie to you and say no we haven’t spoken about it. But he said, I can guarantee you it hasn’t been uttered, not one word of it. So I don’t know where this has come from.”
Munster’s manager and fellow NRL 360 host Braith Anasta admitted he was also surprised by the rumours given he has not spoken to the Roosters on behalf of his client.
“I’m taken aback by it too because we haven’t been contacted at all by anyone from the Roosters,” Anasta said.
“I have heard the rumours too. But obviously I am Cameron Munster’s agent and it is pure speculation. The noise is there, but there is no substance to it.”
However, Kent believes the Roosters have shown in the past that where there is smoke there is sometimes fire when it comes to what are considered by many to be very unlikely signings.
“But we have all heard it independently of each other,” Kent said.
“The thing I liked about it was the bravery of the Roosters.
“The only thing that gave it credibility to me because when I thought about it, why would you move those three players on to get Munster in?
“But then you go back and a bloke pulled me aside one day and said, I’ll give you a tip, the Roosters are going to sign Sonny Bill Williams. And I was like, please. And what did they do? They signed Sonny Bill.
“Then all of a sudden Cooper Cronk comes out. Everyone thought he was going to Wests Tigers or maybe Canterbury. The two bottom dwellers who were trying to find room in the cap to sign him.
“The next minute the Roosters of all clubs announce him.”
Kent believes the Roosters’ ruthless pursuit of excellence and winning is why a play for Munster is not such an outlandish suggestion.
“The one club that is capable of doing it is the Roosters,” Kent said.
“The one club that I just love their ruthless aggression to chase success. They are not happy running fourth.
“Some clubs they get to fourth and it has been a great year and all of the administrators have hit their KPI’s and they all get their bonuses and they are all happy.
“The Roosters are not happy running fourth. They are not happy running third or second. They want to win it every year and they genuinely want to win it.
“They are the only team that are brave enough to say to a bloke at a top four club, mate we are going to move you on because we have got another guy who is maybe five or 10 per cent better, but we are going to bring him in.
“Cameron Munster is the only player they would consider to move those players on for.”
Paul Crawley conceded the story might not have legs after Anasta and Robinson’s denial, but the Roosters still clearly have an issue with their halves that needs to be resolved.
“100 per cent the stories have been going around,” Crawley said.
“You have put it to bed now, but does it put to bed the issue that Luke Keary is a five-eighth and he is playing as a halfback and it is not going to fix the problems for the Roosters.
“If Sam Walker isn’t ready to be a halfback now, how does this impact him going forward? If he’s learning now to be a five-eighth and then next season does he become a halfback? How much change does that have for him as a footballer?”
Speaking on NRL 360, Kent revealed he reached out to the Roosters after hearing from multiple people in the game that the Roosters were considering an audacious play to bring the Storm star to the club when his contract is up in 2023.
“The story was that the Roosters were looking at shuffling their roster a bit to try and create some room to get Cameron Munster at the club,” Kent said on NRL 360.
“It came out after the loss to the Bulldogs the other day that there was basically some unhappiness there.
“There is questions about whether the club is going in the right direction. So therefore let’s get Munster in. He is coming up to his negotiations as we know.
“And that they were looking to move Luke Keary, Angus Crichton and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves on to create room in the cap to get him in.
“Everyone we have spoken to over the weekend have all heard the story. Nick Politis is flying home from Greece tonight so he was unavailable, so I rang Trent Robinson today and he was quite taken aback by it.
“He just said, categorically no. We have all had people lie to us on the phone, but he said to me, look if it was true I would probably have to lie to you and say no we haven’t spoken about it. But he said, I can guarantee you it hasn’t been uttered, not one word of it. So I don’t know where this has come from.”
Munster’s manager and fellow NRL 360 host Braith Anasta admitted he was also surprised by the rumours given he has not spoken to the Roosters on behalf of his client.
“I’m taken aback by it too because we haven’t been contacted at all by anyone from the Roosters,” Anasta said.
“I have heard the rumours too. But obviously I am Cameron Munster’s agent and it is pure speculation. The noise is there, but there is no substance to it.”
However, Kent believes the Roosters have shown in the past that where there is smoke there is sometimes fire when it comes to what are considered by many to be very unlikely signings.
“But we have all heard it independently of each other,” Kent said.
“The thing I liked about it was the bravery of the Roosters.
“The only thing that gave it credibility to me because when I thought about it, why would you move those three players on to get Munster in?
“But then you go back and a bloke pulled me aside one day and said, I’ll give you a tip, the Roosters are going to sign Sonny Bill Williams. And I was like, please. And what did they do? They signed Sonny Bill.
“Then all of a sudden Cooper Cronk comes out. Everyone thought he was going to Wests Tigers or maybe Canterbury. The two bottom dwellers who were trying to find room in the cap to sign him.
“The next minute the Roosters of all clubs announce him.”
Kent believes the Roosters’ ruthless pursuit of excellence and winning is why a play for Munster is not such an outlandish suggestion.
“The one club that is capable of doing it is the Roosters,” Kent said.
“The one club that I just love their ruthless aggression to chase success. They are not happy running fourth.
“Some clubs they get to fourth and it has been a great year and all of the administrators have hit their KPI’s and they all get their bonuses and they are all happy.
“The Roosters are not happy running fourth. They are not happy running third or second. They want to win it every year and they genuinely want to win it.
“They are the only team that are brave enough to say to a bloke at a top four club, mate we are going to move you on because we have got another guy who is maybe five or 10 per cent better, but we are going to bring him in.
“Cameron Munster is the only player they would consider to move those players on for.”
Paul Crawley conceded the story might not have legs after Anasta and Robinson’s denial, but the Roosters still clearly have an issue with their halves that needs to be resolved.
“100 per cent the stories have been going around,” Crawley said.
“You have put it to bed now, but does it put to bed the issue that Luke Keary is a five-eighth and he is playing as a halfback and it is not going to fix the problems for the Roosters.
“If Sam Walker isn’t ready to be a halfback now, how does this impact him going forward? If he’s learning now to be a five-eighth and then next season does he become a halfback? How much change does that have for him as a footballer?”
