The Sydney Roosters are about to receive the ultimate test from the Cronulla Sharks
THE question mark over the Roosters has always been around their forward pack and the premiership favourites are about to receive the ultimate test from the hard nut Cronulla Sharks.
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THE biggest question hanging over the Sydney Roosters all season is not if they had the firepower to make it to the finals.
It was always going to be if they had the upfront muscle to match it with the best packs in the big end of season matches.
And forget what Parramatta dished up against the Roosters last Saturday night.
Here comes the real test.
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As a “reward” for winning the minor premiership, the Roosters’ forwards now get the perfect chance to silence their critics once and for all against the pack rated the best in the comp.
Make no mistake, while much of the focus in the wake of the Roosters’ thumping 44-10 win over the Eels and Cronulla’s 30-18 victory over Canterbury yesterday centred on the mouth-watering match-up between rival fullbacks James Tedesco and Valentine Holmes this Saturday at Allianz Stadium, Paul Gallen didn’t miss his chance to draw his own line in the sand.
“They have got all the names in their side,” Gallen said.
“We just have to turn up and do our job.
“I think at the end of the day whoever wins that battle in the middle can eliminate some of what either one of them two guys can do.
“It is going to be a challenge for us coming up against a star-studded team.”
And with Dylan Napa suspended, there is going to be huge pressure on the Roosters forwards led by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
From Gallen to Andrew Fifita, Matt Prior, Luke Lewis, Wade Graham and Aaron Woods coming off the bench, this is where most see Cronulla’s advantage.
While Shane Flanagan wasn’t talking the Roosters down, he did agree the middle was “probably our strength”.
“Definitely we have to win that battle,” Flanagan said.
“Obviously they are without Napa.
“But they have some powerful forwards who can create a bit of a platform for (Luke) Keary and (Cooper) Cronk just to get over the ad-line and play their shapes.
“We need to be able to make sure that we are winning that battle in the middle part of the field, and that we are going forward defensively so they haven’t got all the time that they had (against Parra).
“You all would have saw that they ran pretty hard and they got their nose through the line against Parra and they are just too hard to stop.
“And their skill and their halves and outside backs took advantage of it.
“But Gal is 100 per cent right.
“We need to be able to win that battle in the middle. It is going to be exciting. It is probably our strength as well.”
In their only clash this year the Roosters beat the Sharks 28-10 back in round five.
But that was during a start to the season where the Sharks only won two from their first six games.
Since then the Sharks have been on a steady climb and go into the finals on a four match winning streak.
For Woods, the chance to play finals football for the first time since 2011 is a just reward for all the heartache and criticism he has copped since leaving Wests Tigers.
It was probably apt that he played against the Bulldogs yesterday, the club he was forced to leave mid-season because of their salary cap problems.
Asked if he was excited, Woods said: “What do you reckon?
“It is unreal to be where we are.
“Especially the way (he) started off the year at the Dogs.
“And to be able to get the chance to come here with everything that has happened, it has worked out pretty well.”
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Originally published as The Sydney Roosters are about to receive the ultimate test from the Cronulla Sharks
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