Brandon Smith will only entertain the prospect of an early exit from the Sydney Roosters if he feels his services are no longer valued, with the hooker adamant he plans to stay at the club for 2025.
The off-contract Smith's future has remained a point of interest at Bondi for several months, after two disrupted seasons at the NRL club.
The Roosters have been linked to making a play for NSW State of Origin hooker Reece Robson, with North Queensland also ramping up their fight to keep him.
Smith is also well aware of reports he could be cut loose early by the Roosters, and the suggestion they could let him walk if he finds a new home.
The 28-year-old is already set to miss the opening months of 2025 as he recovers from an ACL rupture.
But Smith said he had so far refused to let himself consider the option of leaving the Roosters before his contract was up.
“If I feel like I'm not wanted, if my skills are not wanted for this year, then you'd think about it," Smith said on The Bye Round podcast.
"But with my mind at the moment, I don't want to go into that realm and think about that stuff.
"Right now Roosters is my team, I'm trying to put that team first."
The dummy-half played under-20s at North Queensland in 2015 and 2016, before moving to Melbourne and making his NRL debut in his first season at the Storm.
But he indicated he is not interested in a return to the Cowboys as a potential swap deal for Robson.
"There's a few clubs we've spoken to and Cowboys wasn't one of them. I don't think that option's really come up," Robson said.
"(The Robson rumour) doesn't really change anything for me at the moment.
"I still want to be at the Roosters, still want to be around Sydney, still want to be on The Bye Round podcast, don't want to be in Townsville in this blistering heat.
"To be fair, they can't force me to go there."
The Kiwi Test hooker wants to have his future sorted before his return, fearing that any repeat of the knee injury could cost him a contract for 2026.
He also wants to help fill a leadership void at the Roosters, but accepts he is playing for both a premiership and to impress potential suitors in 2025.
"My goal for this year is not to re-sign with the Roosters. My goal is to make sure I have the best year with the Roosters I can possibly have and make sure other clubs, if they are going to sign me, know what they're going to get," Smith said.
"I'm fully focused on the Roosters at the moment, whoever they're trying to sign doesn't really matter.
"I want to win a comp for the Roosters this year, and I want to be a part of that."
