Following record loss, how can the Sydney Roosters regroup?

NEVER has a Sydney Roosters team started the year worse. Unthinkable only a month ago, the Tricolours have now officially slumped to their ugliest start since 1908.

Roosters Aidan Guerra during round 3 NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and Sydney Roosters at 1300 Smiles Stadium on Thursday, March 17, 2016. (AAP Image/Michael Chambers) NO ARCHIVING, EDITORIAL USE ONLY

NEVER has a Sydney Roosters team started the year worse.

Unthinkable only a month ago, the Tricolours have now officially slumped to their ugliest start since 1908.

Worse, it shows no signs of turning.

With superstars Mitchell Pearce, Boyd Cordner and Jared Waerea-Hagreaves all sidelined, the boys from Bondi Junction have conceded a whopping 103 points in only three weeks.

Having finished the 2016 regular season in top spot, the Roosters are also now on track to record the worst start of any minor premiership team in history.

In 2010, they conceded 102 points over the first three rounds. But that included a scoreline with 60 points against them in Round 3.

Apart from having Test stars Cordner and JWH out injured until Round 10, Pearce is also suspended for eight weeks following his Australia Day drama.

Worse, against North Queensland on Thursday night, the team also lost centre Dale Copley (pectoral) and hooker Ian Henderson (broken leg).

So bad was the drubbing that the club held no media when they returned to Sydney airport late on Friday.

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Currently, their three losses have them equal with the 1987 Parramatta Eels and the 1999 Brisbane Broncos.

While the Eels stopped their rot after three games, the Broncos dropped their opening five before a stunning mid-season revival saw them make a shock finals appearance.

The Roosters next three games are against Manly, the Warriors and South Sydney — meaning their arch rivals could effectively be the side who etches them into the record books.

Certainly the Chooks wrote enough in their Thursday Night capitulation to reigning premiers North Queensland.

The Roosters slumped to a massive defeat on Friday night.

Thumped 40-blot, the loss was not only their biggest against the Cowboys, but the worst for Roosters coach Trent Robinson.

According to Fox Sports Statistics, it was also the first time a Cowboys side had kept the Tricolours to zero.

One man who believes Robinson can turn it around however is former NRL coach Matt Elliott.

“They can [turn things around],’’ Elliott told NRL.com. “The reason I say that is because I’ve got a lot of respect for the coaching staff, and the culture they’ve developed around there.

“Obviously they’re at a stage where I think they’re right on the precipice, if they have another result like that ... young guys, it’s not as though they lose belief in themselves but they lose confidence in the actual structures of play and the continuity.

“The return of those senior places is absolutely key.”

Originally published as Following record loss, how can the Sydney Roosters regroup?