Naufahu Whyte 'took it personally' to replace Roosters great Jared Waerea-Hargreaves

Trent Robinson told Naufahu Whyte he was the man to fill the void left by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, and the Sydney Roosters prop took the challenge “personally”.

Less than a year later, Whyte is one of the NRL’s most improved players in a Roosters side firming for an unlikely finals berth.

Whyte had one of his best games in a breakout year on Friday night, scoring tries either side of halftime to help Easts stun third-placed Canterbury.

Whyte invoked memories of the Roosters’ most-capped player Waerea-Hargreaves as he burst through four defenders for the second of those four-pointers.

The Roosters’ million-dollar question this year had been how the club would cope with losing 1279 games of experience at the end of 2024, 316 of those belonging to long-time forward pack leader Waerea-Hargreaves.

Roosters coach Robinson identified Whyte, who had played only 34 games before 2025, as the man with the answer.

“We obviously had our chats there. He was always telling me, ‘You’re stepping into that next role now’,” Whyte said.

“At the end of the day, you can have the talks with coaches and stuff, but if you don’t action it throughout pre-season and then coming into the season, then there’s no point, so I kind of took that personally.

“I always tell everyone, ever since Jared and that all left, I just felt for myself I had to step up.”

Whyte grew in confidence after spending time with New Zealand’s star-studded forward rotation on international duty last year.

“Learning off the likes of (Joe) Tapine, James Fisher-Harris, you’ve got Moses Leota, all those boys, championship players, it just built my game so much,” Whyte said.

Now Whyte is averaging the fifth-most metres of any middle forward in the NRL at 155 per game, and trails only Addin Fonua-Blake for average post-contact metres among props.

His form was rewarded with a three-year contract extension in June.

“It’s definitely my breakout year, definitely my best season so far,” Whyte said.

The Roosters head into the last three rounds of the regular season in the box seat for a top-eight spot after some pundits predicted their mass exodus could put finals off the table in 2025.

They are in eighth spot, a win clear of ninth, and face bottom-four sides in two of their remaining three games.

Whyte says he and fellow props Spencer Leniu and Lindsay Collins will continue channelling hit man Waerea-Hargreaves as the season heats up.

“It’s obviously working out for us. We’re reaping the rewards and we’re getting the wins,” he said.