‘Wouldn’t miss it for the world’: Roosters fans ready themselves for must-win final

Josie Bolel has a confession. As a Roosters fan, she has committed the greatest sin of all: once supporting the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

It was the honest mistake of a six-year-old who, when she looked at Rabbitohs mascot Reggie the Rabbit, saw a life-sized soft toy that resembled the one she had at home.

The now 33-year-old, who has lived in the Roosters’ heartland of Bondi since her family immigrated to Australia from South Africa in 1997, has repented since then.

Since receiving her first Tricolours jersey aged 10, it’s been “Roosters, Roosters, Roosters”, and she’ll be part of the red, white and blue contingent at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night for her team’s preliminary final against the Dolphins.

Growing up, Anthony Minichiello was always her favourite, and she’s still recovering from the heartbreak of former Rooster, Joey Manu, signing with the PNG Chiefs instead of returning to Bondi. But the player she’s most excited to watch light up the NRL finals is Mark Nawaqanitawase.

“He plays a very similar style [to Manu], just with all his trick passes and stuff, and he’s just a lovely guy off the field,” Bolel said.

She’s been a Roosters’ member for 13 years, has been there for the club’s 2013, 2018 and 2019 grand final victories and is getting a little edgy as the club prepares for another shot at premiership glory.

“The game day nerves are definitely kicking in, so I don’t want to be too cocky because the last time that happened I was really upset because we didn’t make it,” Bolel said. “I think it’s going to be a very close game.”

Another diehard, Natasha Dowton-Slatter, won’t be getting a flight to Brisbane, after breaking her arm while running to the Roosters’ semi-final at Allianz Stadium last Saturday.

“We got an Uber in, and obviously Moore Park Road gets closed off so I had to run all the way from the other end of the SCG up to Allianz and lost my footing,” she said.

“I couldn’t clap, but I was just very vocal and madly waving my flag. I think the adrenaline took over, and I didn’t really realise anything was wrong until I got back to work and back to the grind on Monday and thought ‘yeah I can’t actually move my fingers’.”

Dowton-Slatter thinks her broken arm may be a good luck charm. She attended the Roosters’ 2013 grand final win in crutches after breaking her foot the day before.

“We made it to the grand final, and I did a bit too much celebrating and ended up in hospital the next day because my leg just absolutely swelled out,” she said. “But it was worth it.”

Lifelong fan Adam Kant will be making the pilgrimage to Suncorp – he’s barely missed a game all year, having already travelled to Auckland, Townsville and Melbourne this season. And, when it comes to the preliminary final, he “wouldn’t miss it for the world”.

“I’ve been a Roosters fan since 1987. I watched my first game in 1986, that was the first game of footy I ever watched with my dad, who was a Roosters supporters and I enjoyed,” Kant said.

“I was 10-years-old, and I said, ‘Dad, let’s go to a game next year’, so I went to a game in 1987 at Brookvale Oval. We lost by 20 points, but that was it; I was hooked from that day.”

Nicholas Sundich, 31, will also be staying home on Friday night due to the price of flights to Brisbane.

If he was able to go, and if the Roosters win, Sundich would finish this season having achieved a milestone worthy of his own jersey presentation – this year’s grand final would be his 300th game as a Roosters supporter.

“I’m one of those people who just likes keeping data and numbers. So I keep an Excel spreadsheet of all the games I’ve seen over the years,” he said.

But instead of reaching game 300, Sundich will finish the season one short. His 299th game will be the grand final at Sydney’s Accor Stadium next month (if they make it).

It’s bad luck for the Roosters too because, according to his spreadsheet, the club have won 182 times to 116 losses while Sundich has been in the crowd, giving them a 61 per cent win rate.

Still, he’s hoping that even if he can’t tick off a personal milestone, he’ll be able to witness his club achieve the most important one: winning the 2026 premiership.

“I’m very proud to be a Rooster and obviously very confident that we can go all the way this year,” he said.