Tommy Talau's girlfriend Jessica Sergis caught in awkward dilemma as Manly face Roosters

Jessica Sergis will have her allegiances tested when her Sydney Roosters battle Tommy Talau's Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday night for a spot in the NRL preliminary finals. Talau and Sergis have been dating for the majority of this year and have become somewhat of an NRL power couple.

Sergis is one of the biggest stars in the women's game, representing NSW and Australia. However her NRLW season with the Roosters was cut short by a serious knee injury.

And Talau, who has become a star of the Sea Eagles' back-line this year in the NRL, hopes his girlfriend will be supporting him on Saturday night despite the fact he'll be trying to beat her Roosters. "I'd like to think she is there supporting me," Talau told AAP.

"Obviously, she is a Rooster, but she says she's supporting me. I hope she is. I'll have to give her a Manly jersey and see if she wears it. I don't know if the Roosters would be too happy about that. There'll be no Manly colours unfortunately, but she'll be cheering for me."

It will mark the second week in a row in which Talau has tested family and personal allegiances. Manly's win last weekend came against the Bulldogs side that father Willie played 101 games for, including the grand final in 1998.

The 24-year-old has finally stepped out of his father's shadow in 2024 after a number of injury-plagued seasons at the Wests Tigers, becoming a valued member of Manly's vaunted attacking machine. "It's been pretty crazy," Talau said.

"I tried to work my butt off in the pre-season to get ready for round one and try and cement a spot. But unfortunately it didn't happen. I was lucky enough to get a crack early on in the year. And then it's just been up from there, which is really good."

Tommy Talau knows Manly need to step up against Roosters

The Sea Eagles are being tipped by many to take down the Roosters, who have been rocked by key injuries in recent weeks and were beaten by the Panthers in week one of the finals. But Talau knows the Sea Eagles will need to step up if they want to advance to a preliminary final showdown with Melbourne.

Manly struggled to make yards against the Bulldogs' stingy defence, with neither of Talau or fellow winger Lehi Hopoate managing to run for over 100 metres. "The Bulldogs, their line speed was great," Talau said. "We've just got to try and really fill up the field, because we have threats all over the field.

"If we have a good line and present a good attack, the defence is going to find it hard to narrow in and pressure our attack. A lot of teams after getting tired and fatigue sets in, just go one out. We want to fill up the field and stick to our brand of footy."

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Roosters boosted by early return of Victor Radley

The Roosters are without halfback Sam Walker and hooker Brandon Smith, but will be boosted by the return of lock forward Victor Radley. The hardman suffered a broken scapula just three weeks ago, but will show incredible toughness to return against Manly.

"He's right to go," Roosters coach Trent Robinson said on Friday morning. "He's got one more thing to tick off this morning but he'll be ready to go.

"He's a pretty key player in the way that we've played over many years. He plays a high intensity style of play and he's key to how we want to play."

with AAP