Daniel Tupou suffers pec injury as Tedesco, Keary, Cronk help Roosters belt Bulldogs
A FABULOUS return from injury from Luke Keary and a five-star performance from new recruit James Tedesco has sparked the Sydney Roosters’ season to life.
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THE giant screen at Allianz Stadium flashed up a picture of Mitchell Pearce alongside Cooper Cronk within minutes of fulltime on Friday night.
Next Sunday, it’s on.
After the drama of last summer, the Sydney Roosters former favourite son returns with Newcastle for the first time to take on the club’s new star attraction.
Just don’t go mentioning it to Trent Robinson or Boyd Cordner.
In the wake of the Roosters’ slashing 30-12 win over Canterbury, the looming showdown was the last thing either wanted to talk about.
“I will get over tonight first,’ Robinson straight-batted.
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Cordner added: “It is just going to be like every other NRL game.
“Treat them the same.
“Approach them the same.
“Prepare the same.”
Good luck with that.
Last week the fallout from the Roosters’ shock first-up loss to Wests Tigers was intense.
But on Friday night they bounced back in convincing fashion to confirm exactly why they went into the season as the premiership favourites.
A fabulous return from injury from Luke Keary and a five-star performance from James Tedesco sparked the Roosters’ season to life.
While all the talk in the build-up was about the battle of the big man, it was the combination of two flying lightweights that stole the show.
Keary and Tedesco each crossed for tries and played a hand in the Roosters’ three others.
Keary’s return also had a huge impact on Latrell Mitchell, while Blake Ferguson had another big game.
Tedesco also set up Cronk’s first touchdown in his new colours in a moment that captured the start of this new era perfectly.
Tedesco had cut through from halfway and found Cronk in support, while Keary was on hand to join in the celebrations the moment Cronk crossed.
“It was great to see them combine on that play,” Robinson said about Tedesco and Cronk.
“Cooper is pretty well known for his support play through the middle and being right on the spot there.
“But it was nice to see James move the way he did around the play.
“We just had better combinations.”
And you could put a lot of that down to Keary’s return from a broken jaw.
It was a performance that left you wondering how Keary’s name never seems to get mentioned in the talk about the NSW halves combination.
Tedesco and Keary combined brilliantly for the first try that went the length of the field in the 12thminute after Mitchell tapped back a Kieran Foran cross-field kick on his own line.
Tedesco was also involved heavily in Ferguson’s try that followed in the 17th minute when the fullback spotted Brett Morris at dummy half and took his chances down the short side.
Tedesco also scored the third try after another play set up by Keary before they continued on in the second.
Tedesco cut through from halfway to put Cronk over while Keary helped close the game out with a terrific ball for Ryan Matterson.
Making the Roosters’ performance all the more impressive was the fact they had to contend with the first half sin binning of Isaac Liu while Daniel Tupou (pectoral) and Mitchell Aubusson (face cut) both failed to finish the match.
Tupou’s injury looks certain to sideline him for an extended period after he went for MRI scans on Friday night.
Robinson praised his team’s toughness to overcome the odds.
And with ball in hand, they really looked good.
There’s no doubt Robinson wasn’t impressed with the heavy criticism that came his side’s way after the loss to the Tigers.
“It is what it is,” Robinson said.
“It’s the beauty of our game.
“I think the interest in our game is really good.
“You probably be the judge of that after one week.”
It was a fair enough response.
Now let’s see them down play the talk about Pearce’s return this week.
At least it’s something for the rest of us to talk up.
FULLTIME: SYDNEY ROOSTERS 30 (C Cronk B Ferguson L Keary R Matterson J Tedesco tries L Mitchell 5 goals) bt CANTERBURY 12 (J Jackson J Morris tries M Mbye 2 goals) at Allianz Stadium. Referee: Gerard Sutton, Chris Butler. Crowd: 12,226.