Roosters star Joey Manu is off to Japanese rugby at the end of 2024. Rugby League is poorer for his absence. On the other hand, Japanese Rugby is getting a potential superstar.
Most rugby league fans unequivocally agree Sydney Roosters centre Joey Manu is one of the sport’s most talented competitors. A top-five centre, a wonderful five-eighth and, in the rare instances he’s shuttled into fullback, a top-five player in that position as well.
When news broke that Manu’s time in rugby league would conclude at the end of 2024 there was little surprise. Finally, one of the NRL’s worst-kept secrets was finally out of the bag, and one of its brightest talents is trading Bondi and Sydney’s picturesque Eastern suburbs for Toyota Verblitz in Japan’s Aichi Prefecture.
For Trent Robinson and the Roosters, Manu’s departure leaves a gaping hole on their right edge, which he has made his home since debuting in 2016. Collectively, the rugby league community breathed a deep sigh of relief. No longer would Manu terrorise their side. His departure continues the disbanding of the Roosters’ team of rugby league Avengers.
Manu labelled the decision to move on from the Roosters and rugby league as ‘tough.’
“I will always be grateful to wear the Roosters jersey and to everyone who has supported me and provided me with some incredible opportunities,” he said. Manu added his desire to ‘finish [2024] strongly.’
Trent Robinson, who’s coached Manu for the entirety of his NRL career, said the outside back has ‘been open about his desire to experience the challenge of living overseas with his young family, and of playing in a different environment.’
Manu’s fulfilment of these desires is now a matter of when not if. Here’s everything Japanese rugby fans need to know about the Roosters boom outside back.
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Joey Manu: Rugby Union’s next superstar?
For the uninitiated, here’s a little bit on Joseph Manu. At 98 kilos and six-foot-three, Manu is as physically imposing as anyone in the Rugby League world; a fact that will undoubtedly transfer over. A powerhouse capable of dominating opponents with strength and force, his attacking arsenal includes, but is not limited to, slinking agility married with devastating ball-carrying, a subtle ball-playing touch and a propensity to execute simply ludicrous feats with relative ease.
Take, for example, this piece of skill in round 18 of the 2022 season. Against a scattered defensive line Manu, playing five-eighth for just the third time in his career, retrieves a bouncing ball and feigns a leg injury before bursting between two Dragons defenders, into the backfield, and perfectly placing a grubber kick into the grasps of the onrushing Paul Momirovski for a Roosters try.
Some argue this deception sways dramatically from the spirit of rugby league. Others see a piece of ingenuity rewarded with the most crucial element of the sport: tries. Ultimately, that 20 seconds of footy offers a snapshot of Manu’s array of skills; the quick turn of pace, the ability to slip through tackles and find the right kick or pass for teammates.
For two years from 2025, Toyota Verblitz will possess one of the finest rugby league players in the world, a man with a multi-faceted attacking skillset primed for rugby union. His future teammates in Japan include former North Queensland Cowboys winger and 12-time Japan international, Will Tupou, and All Blacks representatives Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett.
Steve Hansen, former Rugby World Cup-winning coach with the All Blacks and current Director of Rugby at Toyota Verblitz, believes Manu can emulate another prominent code switcher, Sonny Bill Williams.
“It’s no different to what we did with Sonny. Joey and Sonny are excellent athletes, and there’s no reason he can’t be a similar success,” Hansen said of the 27-year-old. To refresh, Sonny Bill Williams won the 2015 World Cup with the All Blacks, alongside Smith and Barrett.
“He’s so talented, there are no two ways about it. He seems to make the right decisions at the right time. He had a very good work ethic, and in all my dealings with him so far, he’s also a good character,” Hansen added.
Revealing Manu’s intentions were to ‘come to [Toyota Verblitz] to learn how to play the game’ Hansen explained his expectation for the Roosters star to begin his union career either on the wing or at fullback, with the potential to shift into the centres in the future.
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With the next Rugby World Cup occurring in Australia, a nation Manu is extremely familiar with, in 2027, a shift to Japanese rugby in 2025 opens the door for the Roosters centre to stake his claim to be a core member of the All Blacks as they look to win their first title since 2015.
Manu is the second Rooster to defect to rugby union in recent months, with young outside back Joseph Sua’ali’i signing with the NSW Waratahs from 2025 onwards. After sharing the field as teammates over the last few seasons, Sua’ali’i and Manu could potentially face off as rivals in the 2027 World Cup.
These two departures are marginally offset by the arrival of Wallaby winger Mark Nawaqanitawase, making it a two-for-one transaction at the end of the season. A rising star in his own right, ‘Marky Mark’ will turn heads in the NRL.
But there’s no one move the Roosters can make that adequately replaces Manu and all that he brings — that’s the quality of player Japanese Rugby, and the All Blacks, have landed.
