How Sydney Roosters need to beat unfair penalty count to overcome the reigning Rabbitohs
Well what better week to kick off From The Coop than a match against the Roosters’ biggest foes, South Sydney. One-eyed Roosters fan PETER ORINUELA previews this week’s blockbuster NRL game.
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Well what better week to kick off From The Coop than a match against our biggest foes, South Sydney.
The cricket season could not have come quicker after Russell Crowe and his Bunnies broke their drought.
If we are to believe what was said and written after last year’s grand final, it was the most emotional win of all time. I recall seeing plenty of emotion when the Chooks won in 2013. Perhaps these same people missed this.
The Roosters’ defence of their title was somewhat frustrating. We seemed to be waiting all season for the team to click into gear. It just didn’t happen.
Apart from every team lifting against them, there were other uncontrollable matters which may have ultimately decided their fate. The season was unprecedented in the amount of penalties the team conceded in their title defence.
The Roosters won just four penalty counts in 27 matches. It is inevitable that we will be on the wrong side of the penalty count each and every match.
This is nothing new to Roosters fans. We have been subjected to this for many years.
I believe the following longer-term statistics are telling and point towards an injustice over many years.
Souths were awarded 84 more penalties than the Roosters in 2014. How can that happen, when we are playing exactly the same opposition teams?
Yet the Roosters, as minor premiers and defending champions, received the fewest penalties of any side. The best team over 26 rounds received the fewest penalties.
Unbelievable I know.
Over the past seven years, the Roosters have a -297 penalty differential. The next worst is the Bulldogs on -104. Souths of course, lead on +153. That’s a 450 penalty advantage on the Roosters — or 64 a year.
The Roosters haven’t had a positive penalty differential in 10 years. During that period the club has gone through five coaches and hundreds of players. Souths have eight straight years of positive penalty differentials.
These are facts, not a myth conjured up by a demented, one-eyed fan.
With penalties so crucial in the modern game to possession flow and point-scoring, it demonstrates how the Roosters have been playing with one hand tied behind their back.
The fact that we have been in been in multiple grand finals, won two minor premierships, and won a premiership during this period, is a testament to the resolve of the players and club as a whole.
Despite being far too good for the North Queensland last week once again, the Roosters were up against it. A 10-2 penalty count to the home team was not enough to get them home. The Roosters put on an amazing defensive display.
One of the penalties we received was for a kick off going out on the full. So, those officiating are virtually telling us that the Cowboys made only one infringement throughout the course of the entire match. Astounding.
The defensive performance in the second half was nothing short of remarkable. The same resolve will be required if they are to beat the defending premiers Souths this weekend.
Easts to win.
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