NRL: Top 25 Sydney Roosters Players of All Time

From Dally Messenger and Arthur Beetson to James Tedesco, these are the top 25 Sydney Roosters players of all time, ranked by The Sporting Base across more than a century of Eastern Suburbs and Roosters football.

Eastern Suburbs, now the Sydney Roosters, have won 15 premierships since 1908 and remain the only foundation club to have played every professional season. With the Tricolours preparing for another grand final against the Newcastle Knights, there is no better time to settle the debate over the club’s greatest players.

How we ranked them

This list is TSB’s opinion, weighed on five things: longevity, premierships, representative honours, peak form and impact on the club. Games, tries and points are first-grade premiership figures for Eastern Suburbs / Sydney City / Sydney Roosters (finals included), taken from club records and Rugby League Project. Figures for current players are as they stand heading into the 2026 grand final. Members of the Roosters Hall of Fame feature heavily, but modern premiership stars get their say too. Players who also starred elsewhere are ranked on their Roosters impact.

25. Sandy Pearce (1908-1921)

Sidney ‘Sandy’ Pearce was among the club’s foundation greats, playing 157 premiership games for Easts and helping deliver the first three titles in 1911, 1912 and 1913. A durable hooker in the earliest years of the code, he was inducted into the Sydney Roosters Hall of Fame in 2023.

24. Shaun Kenny-Dowall (2007-2017)

Kenny-Dowall scored 121 tries in 224 games for the Roosters and was part of the 2013 premiership side. A New Zealand Test regular during his Bondi years, he gave the club a decade of finishing power on the wing and in the centres before finishing his NRL career at Newcastle.

23. Mitchell Pearce (2007-2017)

The local halfback played 238 games for the Roosters, steering them to the 2010 grand final and helping build the side that later broke through in 2013 after his departure. Pearce represented NSW while at the club and remains one of the most capped playmakers in Roosters history.

22. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (2010-2024)

Few forwards have given the Roosters more longevity. Waerea-Hargreaves played 310 premiership games in the red, white and blue, won titles in 2013, 2018 and 2019, and became a cornerstone of the modern pack across more than a decade of finals football.

21. Latrell Mitchell (2016-2019)

In only 96 Roosters games Mitchell scored 65 tries and was central to the back-to-back premierships of 2018 and 2019. His Bondi peak was brief but brilliant before he moved to South Sydney; on Roosters impact alone, those two titles and that strike rate earn him a place here.

20. Mitchell Aubusson (2007-2020)

Aubusson played 306 games for the club, often filling whatever role the coach needed, and collected premiership rings in 2013, 2018 and 2019. Quietly one of the great servants of the modern era, he embodied the utility edge that underpinned three titles.

19. John Brass (1969-1976)

A dual international who switched from rugby union, Brass played 143 games for Easts and was a key attacking piece in the back-to-back premiership sides of 1974 and 1975. He later entered the Sydney Roosters Hall of Fame in 2023.

18. Bill Mullins (1968-1978)

One of the fastest wingers of his generation, Mullins scored 104 tries in 190 games and featured in both of Jack Gibson’s premiership teams. His finishing power helped turn Easts into the competition’s most feared attacking side of the mid-1970s.

17. Dick Dunn (1938-1947)

Dunn played 134 games for Easts and is forever linked with the 1945 grand final, when his hat-trick and five goals delivered a 19-point haul in the 22-18 win over Balmain. A Hall of Famer, he also played in the 1940 premiership side.

16. Daniel Tupou (2012-present)

Tupou is the club’s leading try scorer with 198 tries in 306 games and has won premierships in 2013, 2018 and 2019. Still a first-grader heading into the 2026 grand final, the Tongan Test winger has been a constant through the most successful stretch of the modern Roosters.

15. Jake Friend (2008-2021)

Friend played 264 games at hooker, captained the side and won three premierships (2013, 2018 and 2019). A relentless defender who finally broke through for Queensland in the 2020 Origin series, he was forced into early retirement by concussion but left as one of the club’s modern leaders.

14. Luke Keary (2017-2024)

Keary won the Clive Churchill Medal in the 2018 grand final and played 168 games for the Roosters, adding titles in 2018 and 2019 after earlier success at South Sydney. The Ipswich playmaker’s big-game nerve defined the Tricolours’ most recent dynasty.

13. Cooper Cronk (2018-2019)

Cronk played only 49 games for the Roosters, but they included both grand final wins in 2018 and 2019. Already a Melbourne premiership legend, his two seasons at Bondi helped deliver the first back-to-back NRL titles of the modern era and sealed his place among the club’s most influential recruits.

12. Luke Ricketson (1991-2005)

A local junior in a big-money era, Ricketson played 301 games for the club and was part of the 2002 premiership side. He broke Kevin Hastings’ long-standing appearances record and gave Easts more than a decade of reliable back-row football, plus Australian representation.

11. Kevin Hastings (1976-1987)

‘Horrie’ was the club’s standout of the early 1980s, winning the Rothmans Medal in 1981 and Dally M Halfback of the Year three years running from 1980 to 1982. Club records credit him with 228 first-grade games, a mark he held until Ricketson passed it, and he entered the Hall of Fame in 2012.

10. Craig Fitzgibbon (2000-2009)

Fitzgibbon won the Clive Churchill Medal in the 2002 grand final and remains the Roosters’ leading premiership points scorer with 1,454 points from 228 games, built on 36 tries and 655 goals. A Hall of Famer, he also won the Wally Lewis Medal in 2004 and later returned as head coach.

9. Boyd Cordner (2011-2020)

Cordner captained the Roosters to the 2018 and 2019 premierships and also won in 2013, finishing with 181 games and 50 tries. A NSW and Australian captain, his leadership through the back-to-back years places him among the modern greats despite a career shortened by injury.

8. Ray Stehr (1929-1942, 1945-1946)

Stehr won five premierships with Easts (1935, 1936, 1937, 1940 and 1945), captaining the last two, across 174 games. Still among the youngest first-graders in Australian history when he debuted, the hard prop later coached, commentated and served as club president, and he is a Hall of Famer.

7. James Tedesco (2018-present)

Since arriving from the Wests Tigers, Tedesco has played 206 games and scored 111 tries for the Roosters, winning premierships in 2018 and 2019. An Australian and NSW fullback who has captained both, he heads into the 2026 grand final as the face of the modern club and one of the finest No.1s of any era.

6. Anthony Minichiello (2000-2014)

Mini played 302 games, all for the Roosters, scored 139 tries and won premierships in 2002 and as captain in 2013. A Hall of Famer and long-time fullback, he held the club appearances record at retirement and bookended the Fittler and Cordner title eras.

5. Ron Coote (1972-1978)

Already a South Sydney premiership star, Coote played 109 games for Easts and was central to the 1974 and 1975 titles. Famous for his cover defence, he was named in the Australian Rugby League Team of the Century and in 2024 became rugby league’s 14th Immortal.

4. Brad Fittler (1996-2004)

Fittler played 217 games for the Roosters, scored 91 tries and captained the 2002 premiership side after earlier grand final heartbreak. Club records list him as the most-capped captain in Roosters history (199 games as skipper), and he later coached the club before entering the Hall of Fame in 2010.

3. Dave Brown (1930-1936, 1939-1941)

The ‘Bradman of League’ played 94 games for Easts, scored 93 tries and still holds the record of 38 tries in a season (1935). An Immortal, he captained Australia as a 22-year-old, led Easts to the 1935 and 1936 titles, then returned from England to captain-coach the 1940 premiership.

2. Arthur Beetson (1971-1978)

Beetson played 131 games for Easts, captained the 1974 and 1975 premiership teams and was retrospectively awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for the 1974 grand final. An Immortal, Team of the Century prop and the first Queensland State of Origin captain in 1980, ‘Artie’ remains the standard for Roosters forwards.

1. Dally Messenger (1908, 1910-1913)

There was only ever going to be one No.1. Messenger played 48 games for Easts, scored 21 tries and 379 points, and was the catalyst for the club’s first three premierships in 1911, 1912 and 1913. Rugby league’s first superstar, an Immortal, and the man whose name sits on the Dally M Medal, he is the foundation of the Roosters story.

The next chapter

Sunday’s grand final against the Newcastle Knights at Accor Stadium adds another chapter to a club that has already claimed 15 titles. James Tedesco and Daniel Tupou from this list are still in the mix for Bondi, chasing a fourth modern-era crown. Catch up on the latest Roosters vs Knights team news, and for form, head-to-head records and player stats, visit the TSB NRL Match Centre.

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