Roosters hit top gear in 48-10 belting of Newcastle to reaffirm their status as title favourites
An injury to Jake Friend that will keep the Roosters skipper out until the finals has soured the Tricolours 48-10 belting of Newcastle.
DAZZLING: Teddy crosses for classic try
Jake Friend could have played his final game of the regular season with the Roosters co-skipper again expected to face a long stint on the sidelines after fracturing his forearm during the club’s 48-10 win against the Knights.
Friend last just eight minutes before coming from the field with a small fracture. The injury is associated to the ruptured biceps he sustained in round seven which sidelined him until only last week.
The Roosters hooker will now miss at least four weeks but could be sidelined for up to two months.
“He is disappointed,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said. “We are all disappointed. “Finally we got back the crew of decision makers.”
Robinson said he will now choose between sticking with Victor Radley or young gun Sam Verrills to fill Friend’s vacancy.
The Roosters led by just two points up until the 55th minute before they went on a scoring spree in front of 14,053 people.
They crossed for six tries in the final 24 minutes with Latrell Mitchell finishing with a 20-point haul including one try.
It was just the first time since round one that the Roosters had to pick from its first choice spine of James Tedesco, Luke Keary, Cooper Cronk and Friend.
Keary produced his best performance since a six-week lay-off through concussion laying on three tries.
TEDDY TOO GOOD
Tedesco was at his brilliant best. After being rested last week, Tedesco produced a performance which shows why is the form player of the competition. He scored a try, produced two line breaks while running for 262 metres.
“It was positive to have the week off last week to rest the body during a tough period in Origin,” Tedesco said. “I came out feeling fresh and full of energy. I was happy with the game. It was awesome to be back.”
Tedesco came from the field in the final five minutes and finished the game with ice on his lower back.
“I got a cork in my back in an awkward position,” Tedesco said. “I didn’t want to come off. We were sitting pretty comfortably so I got an early mark.”
His first try came off the back of eight touches by Roosters players when he completed a 70 metre effort to open the scoring after nine minutes.
“It was pretty pleasing,” Tedesco said. “We spoke about it this week we wanted to play some footy, eyes up footy. That showed the first try with everyone supporting each other. It was a great team try.”
BROWN HITS OUT
The Knights bombed two first half tries when Jesse Ramien fumbled the ball with the line open and Connor Watson dropped the ball just short of the try line. They trailed 6-4 at halftime after Kalyn Ponga laid on a try to Tautau Moga. Ponga also produced the Knights only other try with an inside ball to Herman Ese’ese.
Brown was disappointed with his side’s limp finish which included two runaway tries by the Roosters.
“Parts of that became embarrassing,” Brown said. “Not playing to the whistle. Even though they played faster than us at times in the first half we could’ve come in doing better on the scoreboard.
“When we got to 12-10 I thought ‘’this is going to be good contest’.
“That next little window of what happened is not what we’ve been about. Our right edge needed to do better than what we did… There was some questionable decisions from the back part of the game.
“It’s not going to be a nice review. We are at the stage where we want to be a top eight side. We’ve done enough work to put ourselves in the situation we’re in.”
The loss was Newcastle’s third in a row and leaves them clinging to eighth spot.
SYDNEY ROOSTERS 48 (M Aubusson N Butcher B Cordner L Mitchell V Radley S Taukeiaho J Tedesco D Tupou tries L Mitchell 8 goals) bt NEWCASTLE 10 (H Ese’ese T Moga tries K Ponga goal) at Sydney Cricket Ground. Referee: Gavin Badger, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 14,053
Originally published as Roosters hit top gear in 48-10 belting of Newcastle to reaffirm their status as title favourites