Long-time teammate Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has backed Jake Friend to make the right decision amid retirement talk following his latest concussion.
Reports this week have suggested Friend could announce his retirement as soon as Tuesday, having been concussed in the Roosters' round one win over Manly - his third serious head knock in his last six matches.
Waerea-Hargreaves, who has run out alongside the champion dummy half for the majority of his first-grade appearances as well as roomed with him on away trips, was asked about the dilemma facing Friend.
"For myself, I've roomed with him for 10 years now. I think the position that he's in, it's obviously a tough one," Waerea-Hargreaves said.
"He's been a warrior for us at the Roosters and to not go out on his own terms is definitely the disappointing part.
"He's got a family now, he's a new father and there's bigger and other things to life than just footy, but he's in the right hands and no doubt he'll make the right decision when it's needed.
"Having his little boy Peter is a definitely a good distraction to go home to but he's coming in here everyday with the right attitude, as he has done for so long, he's still running around training, walking around with a big smile on his face as he does every day but it would be tough for sure."
The prop said if Friend was to be medically retired, his knowledge and experience would be put to good use by the club.
"Absolutely, definitely a mentoring role if that decision is made," he added.
"Mentoring these younger guys like Sammy Verrills, Freddy Lussick and Ben Marschke. He's been doing it for so long, he'd easily have a role there for sure."
And while one of his teammates considers the end of his career, another in 18-year-old halfback Sam Walker is just beginning his.
Walker debuted in Sunday's 32-12 win over the Warriors, impressing despite some pretty robust defence from the Warriors' pack.
"He's a pretty calm dude. He gets around just quietly, he's obviously been around footy a long time," the front-rower said.
"He knows footy inside out, he's been around it with his old man and uncles there, he's got a very calm head on his shoulders and he did really well.
"He didn't over play his hand last weekend and that's what you want to see, especially with us older boys, front rowers, you want to see a young halfback make his tackles and get his kicks into the corner and he did that really well and defended well, so it's a credit to himself.
"You've gotta look after him, you've got a backrower that plays inside him trying to look after him but we also have that belief that he's going to do his own job so he did that really well on the weekend."
Waerea-Hargreaves also provided an update on skipper Boyd Cordner who is also out of action with concussion issues.
Cordner has been ruled out indefinitely after a 2020 campaign in which he suffered five concussions.
"He's training separately at the moment, he's just training with our rehab side and he's doing a few things away from the Roosters but he's happy," Waerea-Hargreaves said.
"He looks fit and looks strong and looking forward to having him around the place a bit more for sure."
