Sydney Roosters forward Victor Radley has revealed how close he came to being sacked after an off-field incident involving Brandon Smith.
Radley and Smith had been involved in a text message thread obtained by Queensland police around drug supply and use.
The alleged offence didn't see a conviction recorded against Radley, but Roosters boss Nick Politis has a famous zero tolerance policy against drugs around the club.
Radley told Fox Sports after Sunday evening's narrow one-point grand final win over the Newcastle Knights that he thought he was gone; to the point he was looking for other clubs.
“There was a couple of days there where I was 100 per cent sacked,” Radley told Fox Sports.
“I was sorting out where I was going to go. My missus was in tears, thinking, ‘Oh are we going to England', it was all happening.
“I was gone because Nick's a man of his word and I stuffed up.”
Radley had, at one point, been told to look for other options before the Roosters were due to impose a sanction on him, but after further conversations, the club softened its stance, suspending Radley for the first ten games of this year and fining him $30,000.
“They sat down and they had a conversation about it and they ended up having my back and I ended up getting a pretty solid fine and missed 10 matches,” Radley said.
“The punishment was severe but not as severe as it would have been leaving my home club and missing an opportunity to play for a grand final, which I just did.”
Incredibly, the forward who will represent England at the Rugby League World Cup was then picked for the NSW Blues under new eligibility rules for Origin regarding Tier 1 nations. He played a prominent role for the Roosters all the way through the second half of the campaign, before being part of the grand final-winning team.
Radley, who is believed to be earning around $750,000 per year, has one season to run on his current contract at the Roosters.
