My favourite memory of the 2026 NRL season is the night I went to a Roosters home game in order to discover that their fans are human, too.
asserted
fans → go → order
It’s a difficult case to make this week, when approximately 110 per cent of the rugby league world is wishing for another Newcastle miracle.
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cent → ’ → miracle
The Roosters are the appropriate villains, and will embrace being cast as the black princes of this fairytale.
asserted
Roosters → embrace → fairytale
The evidence against the Roosters’ humanity is old and basic: too much money and influence – the same reasons Manly and the Broncos have been rugby league’s most hated clubs.
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Manly → hat → humanity
Of course you hate the rich and entitled – that’s the world, and that’s rugby league.
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that → hate → rich
Nick Politis’ billions have helped make the club what it is, but it’s not just the money.
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it → help → ?
There is the cosy relationship with Fox Sports, whereby Roosters ease from the field to the commentary booth and studio, a promise of post-career employment that falls outside that mythical guardrail, the salary cap.
asserted
that → be → guardrail
There is the barely sufferable coach Trent Robinson, a well-meaning would-be deep thinker who brings to mind the poet John Tranter’s priceless line about the scuba diver who keeps adding weights to his belt but can’t help floating back to the surface.
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who → be → surface
The almost universal belief that the Roosters rort the salary cap is tempered by the possibility that they do not.
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they → rort → possibility
Let’s just agree that they have made the cap work for them.
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cap → let → them
When the entitled get their own way by legal means, it feels even worse for those on the outside of the magic circle.
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it → get → circle
It means the rules favour those clever and industrious enough to put their financial head-start to good use.
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rules → mean → use
There doesn’t need to be any corruption, and this masthead does not suggest there is.
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masthead → need → ?
Is it worth placing money on the Roosters for the grand final, as an emotional hedge, so you can have sort of a win either way?
asserted
you → place → win
V’landys might agree: there’s always another good reason to have a flutter.
uncertain
V’landys → agree → flutter
The answer for me was to confront it.
asserted
answer → confront → it
I have many close friends who support the Roosters, and I love them all.
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I → have → them
If you were a league-loving kid in the 1970s, and you picked your team based on their exposure, you chose Manly, Easts, St George or Souths, who won every title between 1970 and 1979 (today’s cartel is nothing new).
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cartel → love → 1970
I went with two of those friends to see the Roosters play Parramatta in round 19.
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Roosters → go → round
I felt that this was going to be their year.
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this → feel → ?
They didn’t.
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They → do → ?
Before the game, we discussed pertinent rugby league matters, and as usual were sucked into the past.
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we → discuss → past
What struck me was how nostalgic my friends were for the 1980s and 1990s, when Easts were often dismal.
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Easts → strike → 1980s
My friends were still bruised by the mid-1990s, when they feared Easts would be lost to amalgamation.
asserted
Easts → bruise → amalgamation
During the Super League war, it was the big end of town, notably Politis and Kerry Packer, that stopped the club from jumping ship to the rebel league or merging, and set in train its rise to most-hated, or at least most-envied.
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that → stop → hated
We took our seats.
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We → take → seats
There was a nice celebration for Daniel Tupou’s 300th game, but then Easts kept dropping the ball.
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Easts → be → ball
This will be forgotten if they win the grand final, but Roosters fans spent much of the season despairing over Daly Cherry-Evans and shouting in frustration at Siua Wong or Sam Walker or one of the Butcher brothers, gloomy about all those errors, another wasted year.
asserted
fans → forget → errors
For much of that game, among the faithful, I felt like I was the only one thinking they didn’t need to worry.
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they → feel → faithful
As Brisbane showed last year, you don’t have to be brilliant all season, just for three weeks in spring with a bit of luck going your way.
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bit → show → luck
Conversely, as Penrith discovered, you can be brilliant all year but lose it all in one catastrophic hour.
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you → discover → hour
The Roosters ground out a scrappy win, turning on enough power for 30 minutes to dispatch the injury-depleted Eels, gleaning another two points that kept them in the top four.
asserted
that → grind → top
Throughout the match, I kept looking at this one man who was wearing a Roosters jersey.
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who → keep → jersey
He had pale, almost translucent hair and cheekbones that shone through his thin skin.
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that → have → skin
He had come on his own, which was a pretty good effort in itself.
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which → come → itself
No doubt Roosters regulars know the man.
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regulars → know → man
What kept drawing me to him was the complete bliss in his face.
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kept → keep → face
He had lived through those, at times, ordinary ’80s and ’90s, and other awful eras, too.
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He → live → ’
I felt a great solidarity with him.
asserted
I → feel → him
His face expressed the truth of rugby league: fandom is all about suffering, punctuated by the briefest flashes of ecstasy.
asserted
fandom → express → ecstasy
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
