‘Can’t win the comp’: Star Roosters can’t afford to lose amid $1.8m dilemma

The market value of Sam Walker has been debated amid reports the Roosters have tabled a two-year extension to their halfback worth $1.8 million.

Walker, who is under contract until the end of 2025, has been one of the Roosters’ best this season with the Tricolours proving to be a live premiership threat, sitting in third on the ladder.

NRL360’s Braith Anasta even went as far to say that Walker’s so important for the star-studded Roosters, that they “can’t win the comp” without him.

“The Roosters were not the team they are now back before he started his run back on ANZAC Day, he this year has catapulted them into premiership contenders,” Anasta said.

“They’ve got a great roster, you take Sam out of that and they can’t win the comp this year … Sam is their man, so they need him.”

Anasta believes Walker is one of the top “two or three” halfbacks in the game right now and deserves to be paid as such, however admits that remaining with a club like the Roosters will mean he might have to take a little less than what he could fetch on the open market.

“This is an interesting on because Sam is up there in the top two, three halfbacks in our game right now, he seems very happy at the Roosters, he’s playing great,” Anasta said.

“We know the Roosters would not want to let him go. If they don’t sign him before November 1 he’s a free agent.

“If you’re getting $1.4 million, a lot of players would take $1.1 million or $1.2 million to win a comp, or to have a lot more chance of winning a comp, that’s the reality.

“Well you’ve got Nathan Cleary No.1, Daly Cherry-Evans, Jahrome Hughes. What are they on? He’d be sitting underneath them,” NRL legend Gorden Tallis asked.

“They are all on over a million dollars,” Anasta said.

“If he went to the open market, I have no doubt he’d get a million dollars.

“But I get the impression the Roosters, they know how important he is. Luke Keary is leaving, they know how much they need Sam Walker.”

Fox League’s James Hooper says the Roosters are considering upping the length and price of the existing two-year, $1.8 million offer.

“The Roosters rarely miss the mark when it comes to recruitment and retention. They’ve made a two-year offer, I think it’s a tick over $900,000-per-season,” Hooper said.

“But they are now even considering possibly making that a longer term deal. So maybe they go back to the drawing board and make a five-year offer or something similar and look to make it extremely highly-paid in the back-end of that deal.

“I think they will get it done.”