With the 2023 NRL season nearing, we list the crop of rookies from each club worth keeping tabs on as they aim to join the elite list of budding stars with a Rookie of the Year award to their name.
As per the NRL, “players are eligible for the Rookie of the Year in their debut season and the subsequent two NRL seasons … Once a player plays five (5) NRL Premiership matches (or English Super League matches), he becomes ineligible for the Rookie of the Year in any subsequent seasons”.
Siua Wong
A junior standout who made his international debut for Fiji at the World Cup, Wong looks destined to make the leap up to first-grade sooner rather than later. After starting the year with the Roosters’ S.G. Ball and Jersey Flegg sides, Wong made 10 NSW Cup starts as an edge forward for North Sydney averaging 113 run metres, breaking 29 tackles, and scoring three tries. In Round 21 against Canterbury, he scored a try, ran for a season-high 178 metres with four tackle breaks, and made 31 tackles in a decisive win. In his four World Cup outings for Fiji, he averaged 111 run metres and made 125 tackles at almost 95 per cent efficiency. In the side’s 60-4 win over Scotland, he ran for 180 metres with three tackle breaks and made 21 tackles without a miss. Still just 19, Wong will undoubtedly push for an NRL debut this season following the losses of Siosiua Taukei’aho, Daniel Suluka-Fifita, and Renouf Atoni compounded by the absences of Sitili Tupouniua and Connor Watson for a portion of the season.
Naufahu Whyte
Whyte made a trio of NRL appearances off the interchange throughout the backend of 2021 when the Roosters’ injury crisis was critical but was unable to crack their 17 at any stage in 2022. A towering back-rower, Whyte enjoyed a consistent season with North Sydney in NSW Cup in 2022 – despite still being S.G. Ball-eligible – scoring four tries, breaking 42 tackles, and averaging 106 run metres in 19 games. His year began on an edge before making the switch to lock for a six-week, late-season stretch. The 20-year-old will aim to earn more NRL experience in 2023 as the Roosters embark on their chase for another premiership. Should Angus Crichton miss the start of the season, Whyte – like Wong – may find himself among the names competing for a bench spot behind starting edge forwards Nat and Egan Butcher.
Tuku Hau Tapuha
Hau Tapuha’s NRL story reads similar to that of Whyte’s with the 6-foot-5, 114-kilogram behemoth making a trio of appearances off the pine for the Roosters in 2021 before spending the majority of 2022 with North Sydney. After coming off the bench in the Māori All-Stars’ preseason win over the Indigenous All-Stars, Hau Tapuha made 15 NSW Cup appearances last season as a starting and interchange front-rower. He started his NSW Cup year off with a bang, scoring a try, running for 109 metres with five tackle breaks, and making 22 tackles in North Sydney’s Round 1 win over Newcastle. The 21-year-old will compete alongside the likes of Whyte and Wong for spot minutes with the Roosters’ star-studded first-grade outfit as the season progresses.
Robert Toia
A highly-touted centre from north of the border, Toia was a key member of the Roosters’ runners-up S.G. Ball side in 2022 and had some nice touches for Queensland’s under-19s side earlier in the year. A union star at Nudgee College in northern Brisbane, Toia was identified by Roosters scouts at a young age and has shown a tonne of promise thus far. Having been promoted to the Rooster’s NRL squad for 2023, Toia will hope to cement himself at NSW Cup level before potentially making the leap up to first-grade. With James Tedesco, Daniel Tupou, and Joseph Sua’ali’i all expected to be considered for NSW’s Origin campaign, he could find himself knocking on the door of NRL selection midway through the year.
