By Dan Walsh and Billie Eder
First, the Roosters were bashed by Penrith. Then they bashed each other, before turning on Manly and saving their season.
And after making his own remarkable return from a fractured scapula suffered just three weeks ago, Victor Radley has pinpointed “violence” as the key element of the Roosters’ single win in their last 10 games against preliminary final opponents Melbourne.
Radley’s recovery meant he took little part in the contact sessions described by Spencer Leniu and Angus Crichton as “brutal” and “no-holds-barred” at Roosters HQ, but he heard all about the law laid down by veteran enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
After being humbled by Penrith’s pack in week one of the finals, the Roosters did the same to Manly on Saturday night after dialling up their training intensity when most clubs typically taper their play-off approach.
“I think Jared came in fresh and said, ‘No, no, no, we’re not mucking around here, we’re smashing each other’,” Radley said on Triple M on Sunday, before recalling the famed clash of 2022 between Waerea-Hargreaves and Nelson Asofa-Solomona in an 18-14 Roosters win, their only victory over the Storm of the past five seasons.
“You’ve got to be violent, be physical. The last time we beat Melbourne I think Jared got [sin-binned]. We don’t want him getting sent off but I think he flogged Nelson twice. We were up physically.
Angus Crichton hits the bag at Roosters training.Credit: Roosters Digital
“I ended up getting knocked out cold that game, too, but it was a physical game and that’s what you’ve got to be to win.
“You can’t just waddle down there and think your system’s going to win you a game, especially in finals football… You win finals games by your effort and physicality.”
Crichton noted both the “mongrel and aggressive mindset” Waerea-Hargreaves and Radley added to their pack against Manly, though he admitted to a slight sense of apprehension initially when training was ramped up during the week.
“The boys were sore, looking at each other and saying, ‘What are we doing?’ a little bit,” Crichton said. “But we trained how we want to play. We knew we missed our mark against Penrith and had no other option but to make sure we didn’t miss it this week.”
The enforcer: Roosters veteran Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.Credit: NRL Imagery
Leniu has been earmarked as Waerea-Hargreaves’ front-row successor when the Kiwi veteran heads to Super League next season, and unsurprisingly relished the physical approach on the training paddock.
“It was one of the hardest weeks we’d had, almost pre-season vibes,” he said. “After that Penrith [qualifying final], all the boys came in and took their medicine and really ripped into each other. We flicked that switch.
“It was literally (no holds barred). We were really physical out there (against Manly), and that was a reflection of how we trained.
“That’s just how we have to prepare for these games. Finals games are win at all costs. If that means we have to bang each other at training, then we have to bang each other at training.
“That training intensity won’t be any different this week. It’s a short turn around, but we’ll rip in to each other again and hopefully rip in against the Storm on Friday.”
Radley’s return three weeks after suffering a fractured scapula – the same injury Cooper Cronk played through in the 2018 grand final – capped a remarkable recovery few considered possible, even among Roosters teammates and coaching staff.
“It’s unbelievable. He’s a mad unit,” Leniu said. “The whole week he [said], ‘Just chuck an injection in, numb it up and I’ll be right’.
“That’s what he was saying all week and I was like, maybe just chill, we’ll win this week and you come in next week.
“But it’s a credit to him. He’s just a hard person, hard-nosed. He makes me feel 10 feet tall, like Jared and all the other boys ... No doubt [Waerea-Hargreaves] is definitely the guy that sets it. He starts the smoke and it just catches fire with everyone else. Our NSW Cup boys who are not playing, they were running over us and tackling hard as well.”
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