Sydney Roosters head coach Trent Robinson has exploded at the Newcastle Knights over their negotiation tactics for winger Dominic Young, while also confirming Brandon Smith has undertaken a medical at the South Sydney Rabbitohs on Monday morning.
Young, despite being just 18 months into a four-year deal at the Roosters, has been linked with an exit from the club and a possible return to the Knights in recent days.
That came after he was dropped to reserve grade by Robinson.
The coach revealed that, while the media rhetoric has been the Roosters pushing Young out, nothing could be further from the truth, with the Knights instead making an approach for Young before asking the Roosters to pay the entirety of his contract for 2025.
"Dom is here, he played on the weekend. To be honest, all that has been fairly annoying. It's not to do with any of you guys [the media], but the way it was put out there, it's as if we were trying to push him out," the coach said at a press conference on Monday morning.
"That wasn't the case. Newcastle rang up, and obviously having talked to his manager beforehand when he got dropped to get him out, we said yes, and they wanted us to pay the whole year. We went, no, if you want him... Their chairman said they had the money to take him now, we agreed, his management wanted that, and they have backtracked at the end of the week and today.
"That's really annoying. If you ask for something, you've prepared it, then you stick by it and they haven't done that. It's sort of thrown Dom in a spin and us all this week when it wasn't our doing, so that's annoying.
"Dom and I had a good discussion last week when all this happened. We were clear about who instigated it. He didn't know about it, his management did, Newcastle did, and so Dom and I are really clear on what happened, and it didn't come from us. It came from them.
"His management asked, so we said, if you want to go, then go, and then it came out as if we were pushing him out which wasn't the case at all. We held onto that, were going through the process there and they said you pay him out for the rest of the year, and it's like, if you want him, you want him.
"They have backtracked on that. We will get back to work with Dom. He hasn't done anything wrong in all of this either, so it has been really clear with us, but it has been an annoying week."
Robinson also confirmed the club were more than happy to continue working with Young in an attempt to get him back to first-grade and that his axing from the top grade only came as a result of Mark Nawaqanitawase out-performing him.
"That was going to happen a week ago. It was so clear until all of that happened externally. He went to Tamworth and played, and those guys who went up there will be back tomorrow. It's business as usual for us, but to throw him in a spin and us in a spin when they have had discussions beforehand and not be ready to back it up, that's just not business," he said.
"He is on contract, there is no issue, I just thought Mark was outplaying him. It's really simple. It happens every week in sport around the world. It's quite simple. He is a starting NRL player, but Mark was playing slightly better and you make that choice. Things happen behind the scenes a lot in our game which is quite normal, but it very rarely happens like it has in the last week.
"This happens in the game, so there is no problem with that, but when you say something, back it up."
Meanwhile, the Roosters will let Brandon Smith move to the South Sydney Rabbitohs, provided he passes a medical on Monday morning.
Smith, who is yet to play this year as he recovers from an ACL injury, has already signed with South Sydney for 2026, but will now join the club early.
"Brandon is doing his medical this morning, so I think that's pretty clean and should get sorted out today," Robinson said.
"He will move over there from, I'd say, tomorrow as far as I know. That'll get the tick off today from Souths."
Robinson confirmed Smith is about seven weeks away from a return, while Sam Walker at the tri-colours is closer to the five-week window, and could be back on deck in June.
The coach said the decision to release Smith came as a purely financial one.
"It was financial for us really. He was going to come back and contribute. I think Wayne mentioned it quite well about that injury, but he is going there next year, it gets them a head start, and we did it with Mark [Nawaqanitawase] last year," he said.
"We knew he was coming for the year after, so the earlier you can get them in the doors, the better it was for obviously Rugby Australia, the better it is for us financially, and better for the team you're going to in getting a head start."
Robinson revealed however that Daly Cherry-Evans was not the key reason for the release of Smith, with the club interested, but not furthering discussions in the last six weeks.
They are, however, in negotiations with already contracted players to add to their Top 30 for the years to come.
"I said it maybe six weeks ago that we were interested [in Daly Cherry-Evans]. We haven't had any discussions since then with management. That's still the case, but the freeing up [of salary cap] is about building the best squad we can possibly build. That will be about re-negotiations with about three of our guys already on contracts. It's always a mix of both," he said.
"We have already recruited Reece [Robson] from outside for next year, and I think we have been really clear on what we have been trying to do this year. Everyone expected us to make big moves last year, we have played a lot of these guys, I think we have 29 or 30 out of our full squad that have come through our system, as much as any team in the competition, and that will continue."
