Nathaniel Roache is on the hunt for a new NRL club after being told he won’t be offered a new contract at the Warriors.
Roache has played just 26 games since making his debut for the club in 2016.
He has had eight operations over that time and missed the entire 2018 campaign because of back surgery.
He needed a knee reconstruction last season, followed by an ankle operation and has yet to play a game this year.
He should be available for selection for this weekend’s game against the Bulldogs on Sunday, but Stuff understands his time at the club is coming to an end.
The Warriors have made it clear to Roache that they won’t be offering him a new contract after this season.
The club have invested in him heavily over the last four years, when he signed an upgraded contract in 2017, but they have only got around 18 months of value out of him.
With Wayde Egan and Karl Lawton both playing well and battling it out for game time, there’s no real need for them to have Roache on their books.
At times last year when Issac Luke’s performances were patchy, Roache became the club’s first choice hooker.
But the writing was on the wall for him when Lawton signed a two-year extension and Egan was brought in as Luke’s replacement for this season.
It also wouldn’t be in Roache’s best interest to stay at the Warriors as it won’t be easy to get past Egan and Lawton for the right to wear the No 9 jersey.
Last month Roache told media how hard it had been for him to spend so much time injured.
“The past three years have been a pretty tough run,” he said.
“My body has been through a lot, and my mind as well.”
There’s no hard feelings from Roache and he’s already on the lookout for a move somewhere else.
However, Roache’s problem is that he hasn’t played for so long.
His ability isn’t disputed and he’s renowned as being a player with a good attitude and strong training ethics, but the number of injuries he’s had have given him an ‘injury prone’ tag.
Roache is raring to go and show clubs what he has and under the new six again rule, a fast, strong and attacking hooker like Roache could excel.
But because of the lack of game time Roache and no reserve grade footy competitions this year, no club would be prepared to offer him a big money contract that would run over multiple years.
That’s understandable to Roache, who is prepared to join a club on a 12-month contract, knuckle down, demonstrate his good attitude and then hope to get a better deal for 2022.
It could be that Roache will have to play in the reserve grade Queensland or NSW Cup at the start of next season and work his way up from there.
But there are already NRL clubs interested in the 24-year-old and where he ends up could depend on which one looks to have the best pathway into first-grade footy.
Time will tell if Roache will go down as another one that got away from the Warriors.
Erin Clarke and Siliva Havili are two hookers the club developed, who are now playing regularly for the Titans and Raiders respectively.
But with Roache it appears a move away from the Warriors is best for both parties.