Lodge signs for 3rd club in year

Matt Lodge has signed with the Sydney Roosters until the end of the 2022 NRL season.

Matt Lodge is happy to say his time as an NRL enforcer is over after signing for his third club in the space of a year.

The prop has joined the Sydney Roosters on a contract until the end of the season after leaving Brisbane and the Warriors in acrimonious circumstances over the last 12 months.

Lodge joins a Roosters side sitting in 10th spot on the ladder in need of some added starch to ensure they don’t miss the finals for the first time since 2016.

The 27-year-old admitted a sense of relief that, unlike at his previous two clubs, he wasn’t being brought to Bondi to be the spearhead of the forward pack.

“I don’t have to come here and be the enforcer. I get to slot in behind the guys here and play a simplified role,” Lodge said on Monday.

“I don’t want to have to try to be that person. 

“Lindsay (Collins) is an Origin player, and there’s Jared (Waerea-Hargreaves) and Victor (Radley) so if I can crack into the team I can work behind them.

“The last few years I’ve had to have a bigger voice so I’m looking forward to being able to focus on my game and perfect that.”

The Broncos and Warriors are still carrying part of Lodge’s salary on their respective caps this year.

Lodge, who has been heavily linked to the Dolphins for 2023 where his father-in-law Peter O’Sullivan is the recruitment manager, has relocated his family to Sydney and says he would like to extend his Roosters stay beyond the end of this year.

“I wouldn’t come here if I didn’t want a future here,” he said.

Lodge claimed he was committed to extending his stay at the Warriors and relocating to New Zealand in 2023 until the club parted ways with O’Sullivan and halfback Sean O’Sullivan – Lodge’s brother-in-law – last year.

“When I signed for the club I got convinced – it’s no secret (who) my father-in-law (is) – and things weren’t going well at the Broncos,” Lodge said.

“Within six weeks they were both gone. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that changes the dynamic of taking your family over there.

“I was close to re-signing there and they put a big deal on the table to stay for a long period of time but there were some things outside of footy that were more important to me.”

Lodge will play for North Sydney in the NSW Cup before a likely debut for the Roosters against St George Illawarra on Saturday week. 

By: George Clarke, AAP