Marky Mark is leaving for rugby union. Tupou could be Super League-bound. The wing cupboard is looking dangerously bare for 2027. And a Queensland Origin winger is suddenly on the market.
It’s easy to get caught up in the drama of the 2026 season — the 10th-place ladder position, the Robinson pressure, the comeback win over Cronulla. But while the current campaign plays out, the Roosters’ football staff are already doing what smart clubs always do: planning eighteen months ahead. And one of the most pressing items on that planning list is the Roosters’ wing situation for 2027.
It is, to put it plainly, a problem. A significant one. And Murray Taulagi — Queensland State of Origin winger, dual international, and the man the North Queensland Cowboys are reportedly unable to re-sign — is emerging as one of the most logical solutions in the market.
The wing crisis coming in 2027
The math is stark. By the time the 2027 season begins, the Roosters will have lost the NRL’s leading tryscorer of 2025 to rugby union and their club all-time leading tryscorer to either retirement or Super League. Garrick’s signing helps, but the Roosters need a second genuine first-grade winger — ideally one with representative experience, an established attacking game, and the physicality to play in the NRL’s increasingly demanding wide channels.
Murray Taulagi ticks every one of those boxes.
Who is Murray Taulagi?
Taulagi is not a project player. He is not unproven potential. At 27, he is entering the prime years of a winger’s career — old enough to be reliable and consistent, young enough to give a new club three or four elite seasons. He has played for Queensland at State of Origin level. He has represented both Australia and Samoa internationally. He averaged 177 metres per game in 2025, making him one of the most damaging ball-runners from the wing in the competition.
His try-scoring record is exceptional — 61 tries in 108 games since debuting in 2019. And critically, he produces that output without needing to be the focal point of an attack. He is the kind of winger who makes a backline around him better, finishing opportunities created by others rather than demanding the ball be run through him. For a Roosters side building around Tedesco, Walker and Cherry-Evans, that profile is exactly what they need out wide.
“He averaged 177 metres per game this year, big body, wonderful finisher, experienced and played both for Queensland and Australia. Plus he also has a nice offload game.”
— Fan analysis from 1Eyed Eel forum, reflecting widespread NRL recruitment interest in Taulagi
Why the Cowboys can’t keep him
The Cowboys’ situation explains everything. Todd Payten is under pressure to overhaul the roster, and with Jaxon Purdue, Scott Drinkwater and Jeremiah Nanai all coming off contract in the next two years, North Queensland faces a serious salary cap crunch. Something has to give — and Taulagi, despite his quality, is the casualty of that arithmetic.
The Cowboys have already moved to bring in Reed Mahoney and Ethan King, while pursuing Roosters halfback Hugo Savala. Freeing up Taulagi’s contract — estimated at roughly $450,000-$500,000 per season given his representative status — creates the space for those moves. He is, in the cruellest sense, a victim of good financial housekeeping at a club that can no longer afford him.
That is the Roosters’ opportunity. Taulagi doesn’t want to leave the Cowboys. He is a club product, having signed with North Queensland as a teenager after being spotted in the GPS competition. But rugby league doesn’t always offer the luxury of sentiment, and a 27-year-old winger at the peak of his powers needs security. If the Cowboys can’t provide it, someone else will.
The case for and against
The big picture: what the Roosters are building
The Roosters’ 2027 squad planning is genuinely fascinating when you zoom out. They are keeping salary cap space specifically to lure back Nawaqanitawase, Suaalii and Manu after the 2027 Rugby World Cup. They have Toia locked in through 2029. They’ve secured Garrick. They have young outside backs in the system — Robert Toia’s breakout season, Billy Smith, Cody Ramsey — who provide genuine depth.
But the starting wing positions for 2027 — right now — have one confirmed occupant (Garrick) and a collection of question marks. A player of Taulagi’s calibre, secured at market rate before the Perth Bears enter the competition and inflate the asking prices of every off-contract player, would be exactly the kind of proactive recruitment that separates clubs who compete from clubs who scramble.
Taulagi also showed last night — scoring two tries against the Roosters in the Round 6 clash in Perth — that his finishing instincts remain sharp regardless of the Cowboys’ disappointing season. The Roosters saw him up close on Saturday. If they needed a reminder of what they’d be getting, they got one.
The Roosters have lost two world-class outside backs to rugby union in two years. A third departure is coming at the end of 2026. Murray Taulagi is available, proven and entering his prime. The only question is whether the Roosters can make the numbers work — and in this market, with Perth about to enter the competition and raise the floor on every contract, the time to act is now.
