Monday Buzz: Sydney Roosters’ appalling record against top sides exposed
Whether it be age, lost aggression, defensive weaknesses or plain old loss of form, the Roosters have a number of liabilities in their forward at the moment, says PHIL ROTHFIELD.
NRL
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The one thing billionaire chairman Nick Politis and his Sydney Roosters can’t buy is leadership.
And this is why the Roosters can no longer compete with the good sides Penrith, the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Melbourne Storm.
You look at their abysmal record against these three sides since the beginning of 2020 in the post-Cooper Cronk era.
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The Roosters have played the Rabbitohs, Panthers and Storm 13 times and won only one of those games.
Their diabolical for-and-against in these matches is 173-404 and they have conceded 31 points per game.
They have been beaten 60-8 and 54-12 by the Rabbitohs during this period.
It takes years and hundreds of games of football to build leadership.
Since the 2019 premiership victory, the club has lost Cronk (372 games), Jake Friend (264), Boyd Cordner (181), Brett Morris (276), Josh Morris (325) and best clubman of them all – Mitch Aubusson (306).
That’s 1724 games between them.
You can bring in young guns like Sam Walker and Joseph Suaalii, and they’ll show flashes of brilliance, but it takes time.
They will have their great moments, but you don’t become hardened week-in, week-out consistent footballers overnight.
At the beginning of the year we all tipped the Sydney Roosters to make the top four and possibly win their fourth premiership under Trent Robinson.
Disappointing losses to the Newcastle Knights and the Rabbitohs on Friday night would suggest it’s time to reassess.
The Roosters won’t be winning anything on what we’ve seen.
A poor performance on Friday night at Accor Stadium has highlighted many other issues with this football side.
* Age is catching up with front-row enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, once the most feared middle forward in the competition.
* Likewise, Sio Siua Taukeiaho, his front-row partner.
* Victor Radley has lost his aggression, obviously holding himself back and afraid of making a wayward tackle and risk another lengthy suspension.
* Angus Crichton is playing nowhere near the quality of football he produced for the NSW Blues in State of Origin last year.
* They don’t have a hooker without Sam Verrills.
* James Tedesco had one of the worst games of his career, rushing plays and making more errors than any other player on the field. It was like he was trying over-impress against Latrell Mitchell.
* Opponents are taking advantage of Sam Walker’s size and brittle defence. He has missed 19 tackles in three games. Sitili Tupouniua is also a weakness in defence on the same edge.
Obviously you don’t win premierships in March and there is enough time for Robinson to turn it around and get his side performing.
They have a reasonable draw against the Cowboys, Broncos, Warriors, Dragons, Bulldogs and Titans in the next six weeks.
Yet on their current form, you wouldn’t be backing them with any confidence.
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