Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has emphatically ruled out making a play for Manly front-rower Martin Taupau, stating they don't have room in their roster.
Taupau was on Friday linked to the Roosters amid speculation he could ask for a release from the Sea Eagles.
But Robinson said they didn't have the wiggle room in their 2019 salary cap to afford a player of Taupau's calibre and they only had a couple of spots on their roster available for lower string players.
It's understood the Roosters discussed Taupau several months ago, but quickly dismissed the idea of making a play.
"The thing on Taupau, I got asked about it two months ago and it was untrue then and it's untrue now," Taupau said.
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"It's wrong. It's just not even close to even being true. At this point of the year, this sort of thing being tossed up, we've got our squad, we know what it looks like.
"Tossing that name up, I don't know who it benefits, I'm not sure why it would get a run."
Taupau will be on a reported $900,000 next year and Robinson angrily denied they were in any way in the running for his services.
It's believed Robinson was keen to hose down the story because he feared it could fuel uncertainty within his playing squad.
His front-row rotation of Dylan Napa and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves have been at times criticised over the last year and Robinson wanted to state publicly he was happy with his pack.
"We've got our squad," Robinson said.
"We've got probably a couple of lower money spots, like most teams would at this stage. But we've got 27, 28 plus the guys in the development areas. We're looking strong."
