Academy alumni take to big stage together in Roosters finals tilt

In the block of units they called home as teenagers, Siua Wong, Robert Toia, Salesi Foketi and Benaiah Ioelu usually just ate with each other.

But now and then, there was a high-powered guest list at the Sydney Roosters academy housing in Kingsford.

“At least once a month not only Nick [Politis] but the whole board would come over for dinner,” said back-rower Wong.

“It was pretty cool having that relationship. A lot of us young boys moving from outside of Sydney coming in, hearing about the board, you feel a bit nervous. But for them to be so down to earth and express a lot of humility to get to know some of the young boys was something that I really loved.

“I think that’s one of the big values of this club, being a family club, and it definitely showed through that.”

Several years after those evenings hosting club chairman Politis, and fellow directors such as Mark Bouris and Luke Ricketson, the quartet is in the big time as the Roosters’ semi-finals campaign gets going.

Wong, 23, Toia, 22, and Foketi, 20 are in the starting side for Sunday’s clash against minor premiers Penrith at CommBank Stadium. Ioelu, 22, is a reserve.

Their appearance together at the pointy end of the season is validation of the Roosters’ decision to establish an academy in 2021 after visiting the facilities of Spanish football giants Barcelona FC.

Determined to produce more of their own, the eastern suburbs club can also count homegrown Roosters Hugo Savala, Victor Radley and Billy Smith in the line-up against the Panthers.

The graduates emerged from a carefully designed program engineered by Politis and Roosters coach Trent Robinson and led by three-time premiership winners and one-club servants Mitchell Aubusson and Jake Friend.

The grand plan is for the entire Roosters squad to eventually be comprised of players from their development system.

“The dream is to one day have 17 players playing on the paddock that have come through our academy. So to have all those boys play on the weekend is great,” said Friend, a defence guru with the Roosters who was the academy’s inaugural head coach.

“We don’t have a big junior base obviously but with the guys we get, we want to breed long-term NRL players.”

The former dummy-half said with potentially three teams joining the NRL over the next three seasons, it was even more important for clubs to grow their own and retain them.