Chooks aiming to clean up their act

SYDNEY Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves concedes the Bondi Junction club needs to urgently fix its discipline.

Braith Anasta

SYDNEY Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves concedes the Bondi Junction club needs to urgently fix its discipline if they are to make a dent on the NRL this season.

Statistics emerged last week highlighting the Roosters atrocious record with the referees in recent years, revealing the Tricolours had won just 17 penalty counts since the start of 2009 - losing a staggering 61 in the same period.

The Roosters face Brisbane at Allianz Stadium today with coach Brian Smith's side having won just one penalty count this season back in round three against Canberra.

They came away with a 7-5 advantage in the penalties that day and unsurprisingly came out on top in the match 14-8.

But that was a rarity in a year of ill-discipline that has seen skipper Braith Anasta in regular dialogue with the men in pink.

That was again the case in their last start loss to Canterbury, a tightly contested game until midway through the second half - and another lost penalty count, this time 8-5 in favour of the away team.

Waerea-Hargreaves said it was an issue the team had discussed at length following the loss to the Bulldogs and conceded something needed to be fixed.

"You're under the pump and then all of a sudden you give away a penalty. It sucks when it happens," he said.

"We're pretty keen to get on top of that and start working on it.

"We all realise that our discipline has been a bit down at the moment. We just need to keep working on it and tweak it a little bit."

After a bright start, the Roosters have slipped back to 12th on the ladder after a string of losses and need to take advantage of a depleted Brisbane side. The Broncos are missing six stars either through State of Origin duties or injury, but Waerea-Hargreaves insists they are still a formidable opposition.

"(They are dangerous) all over the park," he said.

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