Victor Radley and his fiancée Taylah Cratchley have announced the birth of their second son, Cruze, after the NRL star endured a hellish year that saw him cop a record penalty when he was dragged into a cocaine scandal.
The overjoyed parents made a joint post to Instagram on Wednesday, showing off two photos of their newborn along with the caption, ‘Vinnie got to meet his brother yesterday. Cruze Nigel Radley, big 10.2 pounder. Go on my son.’
Roosters enforcer Radley and his partner’s first son, Vinnie Cash, was born in January last year, and Cruze’s middle name is a tribute to Victor’s father.
The couple’s announcement was liked by big footy names including Radley’s teammate Angus Crichton, former Souths star George Burgess, Cronulla great Paul Gallen and Penrith legend Mark Geyer.
Radley was embroiled in the biggest scandal of his glittering career in August, when it was revealed his name had been referred to in the drug-dealing allegations against his former teammate Brandon Smith.
Police have accused Smith, now with Souths, of unlawfully supplying Radley with cocaine at Currimundi, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, on June 7.
Roosters star Victor Radley and his fiancée Taylah are pictured with their newborn son Cruze and their eldest boy, Vinnie
The overjoyed couple announced the birth with a post to Instagram that was captioned, ‘Cruze Nigel Radley, big 10.2 pounder. Go on my son’
Pictured: Radley, Taylah and Vinnie in the photo they used to announce that she was pregnant with Cruz
Text messages allegedly exchanged between Smith and his former teammate Radley were uncovered in a police investigation.
Radley has not been charged with any offence and the Daily Mail does not suggest any wrongdoing on his part.
The 27-year-old was hit with a record penalty by the Roosters as a result of the drama.
He was suspended for 10 matches without pay and told to donate $30,000 to Sydney’s St Vincent’s Hospital as part of his punishment, which initially meant he could not return to the field until round 11 of the 2026 season.
However, the penalty was later changed to make him available in round six after Roosters coach Trent Robinson and chairman Nick Politis agreed to count the recent three-Test Ashes series and two pre-season matches.
Radley had also been set to feature for Shaun Wayne’s England side during the Ashes matches against Australia earlier this month, but ruled himself out of the series.
The lock forward publicly expressed his gratitude to Cratchley, who was also affected by the incident when the couple postponed their wedding due to the sanction from the Roosters, which was originally believed to have cost him around $200,000.
‘I felt embarrassed, to be honest,’ Radley told News Corp.
Radley’s former teammate Brandon Smith (left) has been accused by police of unlawfully supplying the Roosters lock (right) with cocaine
Radley revealed that he and Cratchley (pictured together) had to postpone their wedding when the drugs scandal surfaced
‘The club and my family were the two I had to worry about. I didn’t want the people I love to feel the way I felt. I want to make sure the people I love are all right and I made them feel like s**t. That hurt the most. That was disappointing.
‘It was a negative spotlight on the club and that’s something I don’t want to do…and it’s something I will learn from and move forward.
‘My fiancée is getting bombarded, but she has been the rock for me. As hard as it is for her, she hasn’t shown it too much.
‘She is 32 weeks pregnant but has still stood there and made me feel safe and that everything is going to be okay.
‘We’ve (also) canned our wedding – we were meant to get married at the end of next year.
‘We were organising it, but we’re gonna struggle to come up with it anyway now with how expensive they are. We’ll put it on the back-burner.
‘I will be [in the bad books] in a few days, but she’s got my back for the minute.’
