Tigers recruit Terrell May admitted he struggled for motivation to play rugby league at the Roosters, but an off-season marathon challenge has him hungry to repay Benji Marshall’s faith in him.
May has been open about his struggles for motivation to play rugby league throughout his career, with reports his past comments may have contributed to the Roosters’ shock decision to release him.
The Roosters made the tough call to release May just months after he signed an extension with the club, leading to speculation it was linked to his lack of passion for the game.
Despite the initial shock of his Roosters departure, May has moved on and is focused on being the best player he can be for the Tigers.
“Yeah, 100 per cent I don’t even think about it,” May said of the Roosters’ decision.
“It was just that couple of weeks I had to digest it, and now that is the past.
“I moved on from it, and I wish all the best for all the boys there and coaching staff and whatever.
“But I’m a Tiger now, and I just want to be present here.”
But will there be any extra motivation for May the first time he comes up against the Roosters this season?
“It’s just a normal game mate, every team I play is just a normal game to me,” May said.
“I just walk in with the same attitude, I chill out and then once I hop on that field I just turn into a different person.
“I just want to play my hardest week in, week out, I don’t care who’s on the other team, or what team I’m playing, I’m trying to win for the Tigers.”
May was hot property on the NRL open market, but chose the Tigers in large part because of Marshall and the family first culture he is building at the Tigers.
“I just feel like it’s a family-based club, which every club is family-based, but it’s different here because the coach is actually all about family,” May said.
“It’s more like he comes up to you and talks to you every day, even all the boys. It’s kind of the same, but I just feel like it’s a different vibe because the coach is such an engaging person.
“He’ll come and chat and joke. So it’s different, but it’s hectic.
“I’ve known Benji for a while now, so it’s good to come in and for him to still be the same person and put his family first.”
Unlike many footballers, May has come to the realisation early in his career that footy is not going to be around forever, so he wants to focus on what is and that starts with family.
“100 per cent, I’ve said this a lot, my family always comes first,” May said.
“Once I retire, footy is not going to be there for me. My family’s going to be there. There’s footy and then there’s outside footy.”
The 25-year-old has scored seven tries in 53 NRL games to date as well as playing four Tests for Samoa, but he believes his current mindset means his best footy is ahead of him at the Tigers.
“I can’t really talk about it, I’m more like I want to put it into actions,” May said of his goals for 2025.
“So I don’t want to talk and then not walk the walk. I just want to show you when the season starts.”
However, May admitted an off-season incident at home was the catalyst for turning around his pre-season and setting him on the right path heading into his first year at the Tigers.
“I wasn’t really training. Something happened at home and I stopped training and started eating bad,” May said.
“I was like, stuff it, I already said I was going to do a marathon, so I’m not going to lie to people and I just did the marathon. Not at a good pace, but I just wanted to complete it.”
May used the goal of completing a marathon to get his mind in the right frame to tackle the 2025 rugby league season.
“I just felt like I needed something to make my mental state,” May said.
“Like if I can do this, I can do anything. So I wanted to come into pre-season and think if I’m going through a hard time or a hard day, I’ll just look back at the marathon and think nothing’s harder than the marathon I did. Because it was hard, man.”
An honest May admits the marathon was a challenge unlike anything he has experienced and he thought of quitting many times during the run.
“It’s different man, different kind of mentality you’ve got to go through,” May said.
“I wanted to give up so many times, but I just thought I can’t lie to the people I told I was going to do it and especially my brother Paul Blake, who did it with me.
“He was encouraging me the whole time and keeping my pace, so I couldn’t have done it without him and I’m glad we achieved what I wanted to do.
“I’ll try to do a proper one after this year and try and get a good pace in that.”
Making the challenge harder was the fact, him and his running partner designed the course themselves and were competing only against each other and the monotonous routine of the chosen route.
“We started at my house and then we ran to Penrith, which is like 10k and then the track for the last bit of it, so it was kind of like just looping and I got bored and just sick of seeing the tracks,” May said.
“But I’m glad I completed it.”
Making the challenge even more difficult is the fact May did virtually no preparation for the marathon, but he plans to do things differently next off-season.
“It was harder because I didn’t prep for it, but I was meant to prep for it and then something happened and then I didn’t,” May explained.
“Especially being a bigger person my legs gave out and then as soon as my legs gave out my mind was just telling me to stop and all that kind of stuff, but next time I do it I reckon I’ll be way better.”
