Roosters stars step into coaching as Strange takes on wider role

Sydney Roosters mentor John Strange believes star hooker Keeley Davis has the makings of a future NRLW coach after being given charge of the club’s 2025 Tarsha Gale Cup team.   

Strange, who guided the Roosters to a 26-24 grand final defeat of Cronulla, has stood down as Tonga coach after taking on expanded role overseeing the club’s female pathways.

Among his first decisions was the appointment of Davis as coach of the Tarsha Gale Cup U19s team, with NSW Origin team-mate Corban Baxter as assistant coach and Kiwi Ferns forward Otesa Pule as the strength and conditioning coach.

The appointments follow the success of this year’s Central Coast-based U17s team under the coaching of Roosters star Jayme Fressard, Isabelle Kelly and Jocelyn Kelleher.

“I am now looking after the women’s pathways as well and we have just appointed all new staffing for the Tarsha Gale Cup team,” Strange said.

“I am going to be heavily involved with both the Lisa Fiaola and Tarsha Gale squads and mentoring those coaches to make sure I am helping them become good coaches. It’s something I am really excited about.

“The [NRL] boys can’t do it because they are training and playing during the junior reps season but for the girls it is their off-season, so I want our NRLW players to cycle back to give their knowledge to these younger girls in our pathways and it is also about those girls learning how we want them to play.”

Davis, 24, has played every season since the NRLW was established in 2018 and is on track to become one of the first players to reach the 50-match milestone as she has made 43 appearances, along with Kelly and Broncos captain Ali Brigginshaw.

“Keeley is still only young and has a long playing career ahead of her, but she has got all the qualities to be an NRLW coach when she eventually stops playing,” Strange said.

The increased responsibilities with the Roosters prompted Strange to step down from his recently appointed role with Tonga by the new governing body formed to run the game in the Pacific nation.

Former Broncos NRLW premiership winning coach Kelvin Wright will again take charge of Tonga in the Pacific Bowl, which doubles as a qualifying tournament for the 2026 World Cup, with the winner of Saturday’s clash with Samoa to meet the winner of next week’s Fiji-Cook Islands Test.

The victor will gain the seventh berth at the next World Cup, while the runner-up becomes the Pacific representative in the 2025 World Series where they will play Ireland, Nigeria and the winner of next month’s Americas Championship for the eighth RLWC2026 spot.

“It was a difficult decision because I was really looking forward to coaching the Tongan women but with what is required as an NRLW head coach and now with my role with pathways, and making sure that is up and running how we want it to as a club, it would have been just too much,” Strange said.

“I’ll certainly be watching the games, and I wish the girls all the best knowing that they are in good hands with the staff that Tonga have got.”

Reflecting on the Roosters premiership win, Strange revealed how had told the players at the start of the season that the team for Round 1 would not be the same in Round 9 and many would need to play multiple positions.

“The thing that I am most proud of is how the girls bound together at the start of the year with the mindset that no matter what happened with injuries when someone is out then someone else comes in and does the job,” he said.

“Last year we were decimated with injuries, and we just fell off a cliff, so I had a lot of girls training in different positions to cover different injuries.

“Brydie Parker is a winger and she played five-eighth and then went into the centres, and was great in all those positions.

“At the start of the season I was going to have Izzy and Corban play a hybrid role in attack and defence.

"They were going to swap, so Izzy was going to defend at five-eighth and attack at fullback, and Corbs was going to defend at fullback and attack at five-eighth.

“Then when Corbs got injured Izzy had to play just five-eighth for the first three rounds, which I thought she did a good job of.

But then Jess Sergis got injured and Jocelyn Kelleher was playing off the bench at hooker and lock, so for Round 4 I moved her to five-eighth and Izzy back to the centres.

“We had a different starting side every single game but not one of the girls was flustered because they were confident in knowing their role in a number of positions.

"We got to the end and the only two weeks in a row that we had the same 17 was in the semi-final and the grand final.”