The Sydney Roosters will reintegrate Brandon Smith back into their NRL side next week as coach Trent Robinson moves to assure the hooker his axing has no impact over his long-term future at the club.
Smith was dropped for Saturday's clash with Parramatta after failing to show up for their mid-season review.
In turn that has led to suggestions that the ex-Melbourne dummy-half could be on the outer.
Smith recently took up an option to extend his contract with the Roosters until the end of the 2025 season but that has not stopped talk that the New Zealand international may be moved on before his deal expires.
Robinson, though, was keen to underline that "normal transmission" would resume next week, with Smith in line to return for next Saturday's meeting with Canterbury.
"He fell out of favour for this week because it (our review) was really important for us," Robinson said.
"Everyone was there that needed to be and people care about how we perform each week and on that occasion, he said look, 'I don't think that's not important to me'.
"So myself and the club wanted to say, 'no, this is what we do here every day, we value you but we want you to value us as much'.
"The worst part of it is it opens up all the conversations that start happening around it.
"All you want to do is hold your club to a high standard and get performance out of your players.
"We didn't feel like we got that last week, it has cost (us Brandon playing) this weekend."
Robinson said Smith's teammates had held the hooker to account over his failure to attend their review.
And the Tricolours coach hopes the 28-year-old would be left feeling stung by his axing.
"You get exposed as a club," Robinson said.
"But if you want significant change, it's a bit like being a parent - if you want change, how do you discipline and love someone at the same time?
"That's what you have to do but when you do it in our game, it becomes very public.
"But when you take away the thing that people really thrive off, it often creates change in a better way."
Smith's place in the Roosters side has been taken by Connor Watson for the meeting with the Eels.
Since switching from Melbourne for the start of the 2023 season, Smith has struggled to recapture the form that made him one of the most sought-after hookers in the game.
But Robinson insists Smtih and Watson have begun to strike a strong balance that can set the Roosters up for success heading into the back end of the season.
"I feel like we are in a sweet spot with with Connor and Brandon playing," Robinson said.
"You can really see it, and I feel like they've played a fair bit that way this year."
The Roosters will also be without Dom Young against Parramatta due to a hamstring strain suffered at training, with Michael Jennings called into the backline.
