‘We’ll turn this ship around’: Roosters relying on 2022 finish as inspiration for finals push, Luke Keary details broken jaw fears

The Roosters won their final eight games last year to play finals footy. One of their biggest stars says they can do it again.

Luke Keary says the Roosters are using last year’s strong finish as inspiration to fight their way back into the top eight. Picture: Scott Gardiner/Getty Images

Roosters halfback Luke Keary is adamant his side can overcome a horror injury toll to qualify for the finals just as they did last year when they were written off on the back of a losing record after 17 rounds.

Trent Robinson’s side was 7-9 at the same time last year but won their final eight games to earn a home final that they ended up losing to the Rabbitohs in one of the wildest games ever seen.

The Roosters are down in 12th spot on the ladder after a narrow loss at home to Canberra. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The Roosters are 7-8 and have had two byes, but there’s not a lot of optimism from outside their four walls given they have averaged the fewest points this season and have a number of key players out injured.

But Keary is confident things can turn around quickly, starting this weekend against a Sea Eagles side missing Tom Trbojevic.

“We’re united as a group and we’re strong as a team, so we’re going to keep working hard. We’re training really hard together as a group so we’ll get through this,” he said.

“We were in a similar position last year with a similar group. We stuck at it, worked really hard and we turned it around at the back-end of the year where we fell short.

“I believe in this group of players, I believe in the coaching staff and I believe in the club. There’s not one part of me that doesn’t believe that we’ll turn this ship around and play the footy that we know how to play.”

Egan Butcher left the field on Sunday night and failed his head injury assessment. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Constant injuries haven’t helped their cause, with the veteran playmaker confirming Sam Walker (knee) and Brandon Smith (hand) wouldn’t be available this week.

They will get Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii back from suspension, but that’s where the good news ends.

Angus Crichton (MCL) arrived at training in a knee brace and is expected to miss several weeks, Egan Butcher will miss the game due to concussion, Sitili Tupouniua (neck) is set for scans to see if he’ll miss the rest of the season, while Nat Butcher was in a moon boot and on crutches on Tuesday morning.

The one positive is that Keary is still playing after there were fears he’d broken his jaw when Dom Young’s boot struck him in the face as he tried to make a tackle.

Luke Keary was worried he’d miss at least a month of footy with a suspected broken jaw. Picture: Fox League

“I thought I was maybe gone for a little bit,” he said, revealing he was in more pain than in 2018 when he walked around for days before he realised he’d broken his jaw at training.

“They were pretty concerned because I got hit straight on the plate and one of the screws came up so I had a big golf ball on the face.

“I knew straight away that something was wrong because I could feel my face was a bit out of shape. I looked at the trainer and he said ‘get off the field’ so I thought I must be in a bit of trouble because the doc said the same thing when he first saw it.

“I wasn’t in too much pain but I was pretty uncomfortable in the sheds and the doc thought I might have had a bit of a crack. I did know that I had the old plate in there, so one of the old screws is poking out a bit, but it’s all right.

“I found out that night when I came back to Sydney (that I was fine) so I was pretty relieved. I wasn’t out of the clear that quickly because I had to wait a few days to speak with the surgeon, but everything came back good.”