The play that proved Keary is running the Roosters again

It was one of those moments in a rugby league match that seems irrelevant but explains a lot.

In the 11th minute of the second half of the Roosters’ semi-final evisceration of Manly, referee Grant Atkins penalised Sea Eagles centre Reuben Garrick for being offside from a scrum.

Even though the Roosters led 26-4, one of their trainers bolted onto the field, waving his arms and signalling the coaching staff wanted him to take the two points from 20 metres out.

This type of stuff annoys long-retired playmakers, who reckon such matters should be decided by the senior players on the field because they have a better feel for the match.

Five-eighth Luke Keary wasn’t interested in extending the lead. He overruled the call and instructed hooker Connor Watson to take the tap.

It almost paid off, with back-rower Angus Crichton dropping the ball just short of the line, but that’s not the point.

Luke Keary was superb against Manly.Credit: Getty Images

The point is this is Keary’s team again – if only for a handful of games before he heads to Catalans and the Super League to finish his stellar career.

His performance against the Sea Eagles was his best this season. He was just as influential as pinballing fullback James Tedesco, and will be again against Melbourne in the preliminary final at AAMI Park on Friday.

So selfless is the guy and so loyal to what’s best for his team, he has stepped back in recent times to allow emerging superstar Sam Walker to flourish.

Since Walker suffered his season-ending knee injury on the eve of the finals, Keary has assumed responsibility as the side’s chief ball-player again.

Luke Keary fronts the media on Monday.Credit: Steven Siewert

He was wonderful against Manly, pulling out all those sneaky short-side plays that have been his calling card during his 12 seasons in the NRL. His no-look pass to Tedesco, after drawing in Jake Trbojevic, led to Tedesco’s first try, and it set the tone for the rest of the Saturday night romp.

More than that, he took pressure off young half Sandon Smith, who had borne the brunt of the criticism following the loss to Penrith in the first week of the finals.

Keary took on most of the kicking in general play, allowing Smith to concentrate on what he does best – run the ball.

The decision to take the tap instead of the easy penalty kick was less about scoring points as starving Manly of the ball.

The Sea Eagles had the better of the late exchanges in the first half, culminating in Haumole Olakau’atu’s 38th-minute try.

Even though Roosters winger Daniel Tupou had scored early in the second, Keary was wary. He wanted to retain possession and keep Manly in their own half. At this time of the season, that sort of “footy intelligence” is critical in headline matches.

This has been a funky final season in the NRL for Keary, who announced in February he would be playing another year, before announcing in April that he was actually going to retire, before revealing in July he had signed a two-year contract with Catalans.

Nothing has been straight-forward in his career.

A mark of a quality player is their ability to win premierships at more than one club. Keary has claimed them at South Sydney and the Roosters. But he struggled to find his way into NSW and Australian jumpers, and deserved to wear more of them.

He heads to Melbourne with the onerous task of outsmarting the halves Jahrome Hughes and Cameron Munster, both of whom are in rich form.

Yet, Keary has done it against the Storm before, playing the game of his life in the 2018 decider after halfback Cooper Cronk was reduced to on-field coach after playing with a fractured scapula.

In a recent interview for Fox Sports, Keary explained how he didn’t know if Cronk was playing until two minutes before the game.

“I remember they needled him in the warm-up and he said, ‘We will just see how the needle goes and if it works I will play,’” he said. “The two-minute bell went and I looked at him and went, you sweet?”

Even though Cronk was on the field, the match was “set-up” for Keary to dominate. He left the Olympic Stadium that night with the Clive Churchill Medal around his neck.

Asked to describe what Cronk brought to the team, Keary said: “Maturity, experience, he had this presence and aura about him. You walked on the field and you knew like in the 2018 grand final, it didn’t matter if he was good or not, like he was on the field.

“He gave us this confidence. As good as a footy player he was his biggest attribute in my experience was his influence over everyone else.”

In the final days of his time as a Rooster, Keary is doing something similar.

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