Sydney Roosters met with Bondi victim Rabbi Eli Schlanger days before terrorist attack

On December 9, 2025, a group of Sydney Roosters players met with Rabbi Eli Schlanger and other leaders in the Eastern Suburbs Jewish community.

It was a Tuesday in the off-season for the rugby league club, months away from a ball being kicked or a tackle made.

They are a club on occasion tagged as well-oiled, representing the richest postcodes in Australia and lacking deep community ties.

But here were the Roosters, including Hugo Savala, Cody Ramsay and Billy Smith, eating kosher food, learning of Jewish customs at the Chabad of Bondi and walking along the beachfront and Bondi Pavilion. 

Days later, metres away from that pavilion, the most devastating terror attack in Australian history occurred.

One of the 15 people killed in the mass shooting at Bondi Beach was Eli Schlanger. 

Ten months on, and the Roosters are on the eve of a grand final against a Newcastle side almost universally cast as Sunday evening’s community-minded underdog — but Easts’ involvement and then support of their community during its darkest hour offers a glimpse into a story far more complex. 

Rabbi Yehoram Ulman, Rabbi Shchlanger’s father-in-law, was also on hand to meet with the players at the Chabad of Bondi Synagogue.

“They came to the synagogue, and they had a run-down of the different meanings and symbolisms,” Rabbi Ulman told ABC Sport.

“And I remember they were very curious and very interested to understand everything that was going on.”

Roosters CEO Joe Kelly, also present on the day, said the players took an immediate liking to Rabbi Schlanger — something that came as no surprise to Rabbi Ulman.

“Eli was a person who could connect with anybody,” Rabbi Ulman said.

It was a “very happy occasion”, according to co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Alex Ryvchin, who was also present.

“The Roosters came, they were incredibly charming, engaged, very articulate, very knowledgeable already about the Jewish community in this area,” Mr Ryvchin told ABC Sport.

“And just really thirsting for more knowledge and understanding of Jewish customs and traditions … really left a very positive impression on everybody they met.”

But the players also ended the day with a greater understanding of some of the darkness experienced by the community in the 12 months prior.

While walking down the promenade at Bondi Beach, Ryvchin explained to them how the uptick in antisemitic incidents had impacted the local community.

“They had a very high level of awareness already in terms of the fire bombings that were happening here routinely,” Mr Ryvchin said.

“They were concerned about it, but at that point it was still probably abstract for them.”

The events of December 14 were deeply impactful for the Roosters, as they were for the entire country.

And for those players who had broken bread with Rabbi Schlanger earlier that week, Joe Kelly said he could feel the enormity of their grief and shock.

“[It had] a real impact on those players, and on the wider club,” Mr Kelly said.

“The fact that it was only five days, it was really close to home for us, and I know that that was felt more broadly across the community as well as across the country.”

Rabbi Ulman, who spoke at Rabbi Schlanger’s funeral at the very synagogue that had hosted the Roosters barely a week earlier, could understand their grief.

“When we see something that happens in the world that is wrong, we are affected by it, and we automatically feel how wrong this is,” Rabbi Ulman said.

“But when it happens to somebody that we know, it affects us so much more because it’s close to home.

“They saw Eli, they connected with him, and five days later, you know, what happened, happened.”

Away on a training trip on the day of the attack, the Roosters players gathered to pay their respects on Bondi Beach as soon as they could, before hosting an open training session on the sand in January.

The Tricolours also had Summer, sister of the youngest victim, Matilda, toss the coin and deliver the ball ahead of the Roosters’ first home game of the new year.

Mr Kelly said the organisation “got around the community as much as we possibly could” — while Rabbi Ulman said the reaction of the club, especially from those players he met at the synagogue just days before the attack, said a lot.

“That just shows you that they are good people. Because any good person would be deeply affected by what happened,” he said.