NRL Round 23 Team of the Week: How many Roosters can you fit in one team?

How many Roosters can we pick this week?

Theirs was a supreme showing on Saturday night, one of those nights of attack that make you remember just how high their ceiling is. There was a big fight too, which is always hilarious. 

Naturally, they make up the biggest contingent, but don’t sleep on a resurgent Storm, a future rep Raider and some good old fashioned triers from the lower ranks who finally got what their effort deserved. Oh, and of course, a new Gerringong Lion.

Here’s your NRL Team of the Week.

1. James Tedesco (Roosters)

This is fast becoming another banner year for the Roosters fullback, who has to be the favourite for the Dally M. As ever, that does have a little bit to do with the rules – good player on lesser side bonus – but it rarely lies in terms of performances.

This week’s showing was one of Tedesco’s best of the year, doing his usual thing of ripping defence apart right down the middle with a combination of exceptional push supports and late footwork at the line.

Two tries, four assists tells you everything you need to know.

2. Xavier Coates (Storm)

One of the easiest picks of the week, the Storm winger was at his exceptional best to defeat the Broncos. 

He might lose a point for having been caught on a breakaway by Selwyn Cobbo, though even that probably won his side the game as two key opponents did their hammies trying to catch him.

Melbourne can come up with all the inventive set plays that they like, too, but as long as Air Coates is around, a simple dink in the air to their main man out wide will remain the best plan.

3. Tolu Koula (Manly)

Manly were roundly beaten on Friday night, but Tolu Koula didn’t deserve to lose. His pace was a constant threat to the Raiders’ right edge defence, who never really got to grips with it.

The issue, as it has been for a lot of the year, has been actually getting their guy the footy. When Tolu gets early ball, he can shred just about anyone. Inexplicably, Manly almost never give it to him. 

4. Hayden Buchanan (Dragons)

We love a debutant in the Team of the Week, and everyone gets a first crack bonus. Go well and you’ll grab a spot.

Few have gone better than Hayden Buchanan, who scored one and set another up on his first game in the top grade. 

It was impossible for any commentator to mention him without also talking about his hometown of Gerringong – and why should we be any different? 

This is the town of Mick Cronin, Reuben Garrick, Rod Wishart (and son Tyran), Paul Quinn and about 700 members of the Sims family. It’s one of the great nurseries of the game, and always good to see them celebrate another first grader. Buchanan didn’t let that legacy down for a second. 

5. Mark Nawaqanitawase (Roosters)

Our first winger got two tries, our second got three.

Mark Nawaqanitawase was given a heads up by some horrific defending by the Dolphins, but his still took some scoring.

Not least another trademark high catch, which proved that anything Xavier can do, Marky Mark can do too. In fact, he does it perhaps even better than the bloke he replaced at the Roosters, Joseph-Aukuso Suali’i, which is saying something. 

6. Ethan Strange (Raiders)

Ricky Stuart said his five eighth’s performance was so good that he’s going to play for Australia at the end of the year. He’s anointed him the next big thing for New South Wales, too.

It would be a lot funnier if he declared for England, as his NRLW star sister Jasmin has, or for New Zealand, for whom he is also eligible. Their father John, now coach of the Roosters NRLW side, met their mother, who is English, while turning out for Featherstone in the 1990s.

Whoever he goes for, they’re getting a star. Strange made Daly Cherry-Evans look like a saloon door at times, notching a hat trick of tries.

He even gets a try assist without touching the ball, as Strange rushed Cherry-Evans in defence, causing Jazz Tevaga to miss his halfback entirely and accidentally deliver an intercept to Seb Kris.

7. Sam Walker (Roosters)

We could talk about the insane pass to Daniel Tupou, where Walker showed preternatural calm as defenders rushed around him, stopping to assess the situation before unleashing a killer spiral pass. 

We could dissect his other two assists, which were also exceptional. We could wax lyrical about the sheer sense of fun that the halfback brings from being the smallest guy on the park but also the smartest. 

Oh, and the bravest too, and not in the easy way of chucking himself in front of tackles, but in the no-fear-of-failure way that means he tries stuff all the time. Can you tell he’s this columnist’s favourite current player?

But the main thing of this weekend from Sam Walker was that he stopped a crucial try from Jamayne Isaako, when the game was actually in the balance, when big defence was needed.

From a dude who can’t defend, it was the most important play of the game. 

8. J’maine Hopgood (Parramatta)

Talk about a thankless task: not only does J’Maine Hopgood have to run around for a Parramatta side that should already be in Bali, they’re making him do it as a fill-in prop forward, too.

The formerly stylish ball-playing lock has been turned into a beast of burden, but has taken it like a champion. 

Hopgood churned out 65 tough minutes in the middle, taking 16 carries and making an insane 45 tackles without so much as a single miss.

9. Harry Grant (Storm)

We could just copy and paste from the last time Harry Grant made this side, which wasn’t long ago. It’s him, then Blayke Brailey, then daylight at the moment in the NRL hooking ranks.

Grant has found his best form exactly when his side have needed it, without their halfback Jahrome Hughes. Cam Munster is great but can drift in and out of games, while Ryan Papenhuyzen is only as good as the service he can get.

Grant, however, is a constant. He makes his own luck, improves those around him and, ultimately, leads his side to victory – again and again.

10. Spencer Leniu (Roosters)

Let’s face it, the stink in the Roosters-Dolphins game was a lot of fun. Leniu was the instigator-in-chief, as is his wont, and for once, backed up that uber-macho aggression with actual football.

Big Spenny has often let himself cosplay as the big bad villain – he did learn at the teat of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves after all – but sometimes forgot that you have to do the footy bit as well, something that Jazz rarely missed out on.

Against the Dolphins, Leniu was physically dominant and then transferred it into positive actions. When he gets going, this is a bloke with serious skill, decent speed and the archetypal good feet for a big man, as well as the erm, housery. 

When they all come together, it’s glorious.

11. Tallis Duncan (Souths)

God loves a trier, and there are few who have tried harder this year than Tallis Duncan.

When he broke into grade, he was a little Cam Murray clone, but in 2025 – despite his captain not featuring at all – he’s rarely got to play that role.

Duncan wore the 4 here but played back row to allow Latrell Mitchell a late chance in the side, showing his versatility. 

This is a guy that’s featured as a lock, edge and centre in his relatively short NRL career, as well as over half of his games off the bench, where he gets to show all the utility value he has.

Souths’ victory lifted them a little away from the spoon and for Duncan, one of the few who has played all 21 games amid an injury crisis for the ages, a little bit of reward for a season done very tough indeed.

12. Viliame Kikau (Bulldogs)

His try might not have passed muster on another day – there was a strong whiff of double movement – but it’s fish and chip paper now, so big Bill won’t care.

Kikau offered a serious point of difference in a Dogs side that needed it in the early stages against the Warriors, pushing his way to the line just at the point when the pressure was looking like it might not pay off. 

Oh, and just at the end, with the game gone, he absolutely crunched Chanel Harris-Tavita in what should have been one of the tackles of the season. The refs called it a late hit – it wasn’t at all. Maybe Kikau will see it as karma for a try that wasn’t being given. He’ll take that.

13. Naufahu Whyte (Roosters)

It was undoubtedly Leniu who lit the touchpaper for the brawl, but his mate Naufahu Whyte came in straight after him to let the sparks fly.

Whyte wore the 8 but played as an enforcing lock of very much non-ball-playing variety. His returns were phenomenal, topping 10m per run over a team-high 17 in the middle.

On top of that was the aura: he’s alongside Leniu, an NSW rep, and Lindsay Collins, a Queensland and Australia rep, but the theoretically less experienced man is the pack leader at the moment. 

Whyte has 3 Kiwis appearances, too, and will be about the first name on their teamsheet come October.