Wests Tigers recruit Terrell May claims he still doesn't know why he was cut by the Sydney Roosters, admitting he is "dirty" on the way his former club handled his exit.
Re-signed on a two-year deal in April, May was told by Roosters coach Trent Robinson last month that he was no longer wanted at the NRL club.
He has since been released and signed a three-season deal at the Tigers, becoming a key part of the joint-venture's rebuild in a new-look forward pack.
But while May says he is ready to be the alpha leader of the pack at his new club, he is still shocked by the Roosters' decision to cut him loose.
"Getting that phone call from Robbo, I was thinking of all the good things. Like: 'oh, I'm so happy for you, you did the club proud'," May said on the Bye Round Podcast.
"It was a whole 180 of what I thought the original call was for. I was in shock.
"I didn't digest it at all until a week later, I was just like thinking the worst of the worst. Like, what did I do wrong?
"The reason I got, it just didn't add up to me. People are saying, he must have done this or that. But the honest truth is, I honestly don't know why I got released."
May said it took him close to a week to digest the news, and claims he had not heard from Robinson since the brief phone call.
"There was just: 'we don't see you as a future of the club'," May said.
"And I was just like: that's the explanation I got for everything I've done for this club? I know they've done a lot for me, but I didn't even get a farewell or any of that.
"I didn't get an end-of-the-year we're going to look to move you on. I just got that two-minute phone call and nothing until this day, still.
"Just that. It was just the two-minute phone call, and then you're gone."
May also claimed he did not understand suggestions that his exit was a result of a media interview where he admitted he sometimes considered quitting football.
But one thing May does believe is that timing of his exit is no coincidence.
Instead, the front-rower made the stunning accusation that the Roosters cut him post-season to ensure he did not go to another top-of-the-table club.
"When you come in the market at the back end, teams have already filled their top 30, filled their cap space," May said.
"That's why I also was a bit dirty. You could have told me this ages ago when there was clubs that had money had cap space.
"But to do it at the right at the deadline, it's a bit strange. I felt like that was kind of a strategy for him. So I don't go to certain clubs like Melbourne or Penrith."
