James Summerhayes is a fan of all things sport having fallen in love with basketball, skiing and rugby league in his childhood. He has always competed for the love of the game and never envisioned that he might one day be representing Australia. Yet, in March of this year James travelled over to Italy as part of Australia’s Special Olympics team and won two silver medals across different alpine skiing disciplines. Having represented NSW multiple times before in Basketball, James Summerhayes was no stranger to the big stage and used every bit of experience he had to do himself, his family and Australia proud.

James is also a diehard rugby league fan and is incredibly knowledgeable about the game. He is a regular at his beloved Sydney Roosters games, so when the Playing and Simple podcast had the privilege of interviewing him, we had to take the opportunity to get his opinion on who he thought the greatest captain of the Roosters has been in the modern era.

Luke Ricketson

Luke Ricketson was an elite player, but out of all the players on the list he spent the shortest time as captain. There’s no doubt he is a club legend having played over 300 games for the Roosters, but unfortunately he comes in last place.

Mitchell Pearce

Mitch Pearce was the favoured son for so long, until he was moved on as the club decided they had to take the opportunity to bring Cooper Cronk to the club in. There’s still plenty of love to him around the club and many fans would have loved for him to be a one club player. No one doubted his love and passion for the club whenever he wore the red, blue and white.

Braith Anasta

Braith Anasta lives long in the memory of the Roosters for his incredible season in 2007 as he won the clubs Player’s Player and Supporters Player of the year. Whilst he didn’t spend as long at the club as other captains on the list, his contributions were no less significant and he is still and strong advocate for the club.

Craig Fitzgibbon

Craig Fitzgibbon had an incredible career, including 10 successful years at the Roosters. During which time he won the NRL premiership with in 2002. His Goal Kicking ability made him stand out as a fan favourite, but he also embodied the Roosters never back down attitude and loved to lead by example.

Jake Friend

Jake Friend deserves more credit than he gets. Particularly towards the end of his career when he played through multiple injuries and never let his form drop. He was blessed to be playing in an era that had a number of other strong leaders at the club. But his contributions to the Roosters, particularly as captain should not be overlooked.

James Tedesco

The current Roosters captain has a tough job ahead of him this year, especially as he is steering the ship with a new leadership team around him after a lot of their more experienced players moved on at the end of the 2024 season. Still, Teddy sets the standard week in week out and will go down as one of their best captains ever when he does hang up the boots.

Anthony Minichiello

Anthony Minichiello is a Rooster through and through, so it’s no surprise that James ranked him so highly. The one club man played over 300 times for the Roosters and was voted into their team of the century in 2007. He also played in multiple grand finals for the club and lifted the premiership trophy on two occasions.

Brad Fittler

There is no doubt that Freddy is one of the greatest players of all time, but his leadership skills are often overlooked. We’ve seen how he can motivate players in more recent years when he has coached NSW, but he was just as good in his playing days.

Boyd Cordner

But at the very top of the list, James Summerhayes had Boyd Cordner. The captain at the time James truly fell in love with the Roosters, Cordner has a special place in his heart. Another one club player who gave his blood, sweat and tears for the Roosters. Cordner also captained NSW and the Kangaroos, and in his prime there was simply no competition for the best back rower in the game.