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“There is no more to it. He had a great season, was on the cusp of an Origin debut, is currently in the UK representing Samoa and voted by his NRL peers into the RLPA team of the year. He is in the top echelon of middle forwards, so there will be no shortage of options.”
Terrell May playing for Samoa in last year’s Pacific Championships.Credit: NRL Imagery
May, who is currently in the UK preparing to play for Samoa, was rocked by Robinson’s call, and the question has been asked of why the Roosters couldn’t have broken the news in person when he returns to Sydney early next week. Robinson is currently overseas, too.
Roosters sources speaking on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the situation have insisted Robinson did not hold any concerns over May’s ability to fit into his team or club culture.
The coach wouldn’t have played him in all 27 games this season – the only Roosters player to do so – if he did.
But Robinson has also been known to make a tough call or two in his time, most notably the Cooper Cronk signing that sent favourite son Mitchell Pearce to Newcastle and helped deliver the Roosters their last premierships.
Taylan and Terrell May, along with Sunia Turuva (right), after the Panthers and Roosters clashed in round 4.Credit: NRL Imagery
The private belief is that May is close to his playing ceiling, and that bringing through the next crop of young middles – led by highly rated 19-year-olds De La Salle Va’a and Blake Steep, as well as Va’a’s brother, Xavier – is the shrewd salary cap move.
Especially given Spencer Leniu and Lindsay Collins are already signed long-term, with both their salaries due to increase next year.
May’s two-year extension means he was due to earn around $950,000 over 2025 and 2026, with a car also included in the deal under NRL salary cap regulations.
As for where he lands, clubs in the market for middle forwards like Canterbury, the Tigers and Dragons will do extensive diligence given the Roosters’ surprise move.
Terrell May is cut from a different cloth to most in rugby league.Credit: Louise Kennerley SMH
The Bulldogs were in discussions with May for several months last year but grew frustrated with negotiations to the point they pulled a three-year offer, before eventually re-starting talks again.
At the time, May and his brothers, Tyrone and Taylan, spoke publicly of wanting to play NRL together, a prospect several clubs blanched at given well-documented off-field incidents involving Tyrone and Taylan.
The middle May brother has a blemishless record, and multiple Roosters sources have insisted there is no off-field drama behind him being given permission to leave early.
May does not drink, still lives in western Sydney and, as the Roosters have found, is cut from a different cloth to most rugby league players.
Privately, some Roosters figures have wondered whether May truly embraced life at the club, given he has been absent from a function or two this season, albeit with extenuating circumstances.
Media access to the rising prop has been rare, but when he has spoken publicly, May has been remarkably candid.
When he sat down with the Herald during the Roosters’ finals campaign, he detailed a complicated relationship with the game that belied his career-best form this year.
“Sometimes I just get, ‘I don’t want to be there and don’t want to play’,” May said in September, referring to the two previous occasions he gave up on playing NRL, when he was 18 and 20.
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“It’s a weird feeling. I don’t think many people experience it where one week they love the game and go on the TV screens and the next week they don’t want to be there at all.
“Sometimes I just feel I could quit, like in a day. It sounds a bit weird, but I get those thoughts sometimes where I’m just like, ‘Is this really for me?’ I’m very grateful to be where I am and play with the Roosters, but rugby league isn’t the whole of me.
“Then you just look at the bigger picture. You need to support your family and I couldn’t do it without footy. I have aspirations to take the club to the GF and to play for NSW.”
The bigger picture May spoke of then is a fascinating one now, for both he and the Roosters.
And the question of “what’s happened?” for one of the NRL’s rising stars and its most glamorous clubs swings the rumour mill into overdrive again with another.
“What happens next?”
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