Sam Walker instrumental as Roosters survive second-half fightback from Parramatta
Sam Walker has again starred in attack at Suncorp Stadium in the Roosters’ win over Parramatta.
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Sam Walker’s love affair with Suncorp Stadium continues, with the Sydney Roosters five-eighth instrumental in his side’s 31-24 win over Parramatta on Sunday.
Having scored a try and landed a sideline conversion to sink the Brisbane Broncos at the same venue last month, Walker again rose to the occasion in a Magic Round classic.
The teenage Queenslander’s short kicking game was superb in the first half, with his silky boot setting up two Roosters tries.
The first came in the 12th minute when a Walker grubber kick completely bamboozled and embarrassed Eels fullback Clint Gutherson.
Roosters No.1 James Tedesco pounced, grounding the ball before Gutherson could recover.
Walker then did it all himself in the 24th minute.
With the Eels down to 12 men following the sin-binning of centre Tom Opacic for a professional foul, Walker noticed the space behind the Eels defensive line that included fullback Gutherson.
He proceeded to chip over the Eels’ line of defence before regathering to score next to the posts.
Walker’s first-half heroics also included four goals and a field goal on the stroke of half-time to extend his side’s advantage to 15 points at the break.
Walker then iced the contest with a late penalty that sealed the Roosters a seven-point win.
However, despite his brilliant attacking display, Walker wasn’t happy with his defence.
“Sam’s disappointed ... which I really like,” Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.
“He knows that he can do that stuff that he did in the first half. He sees the game well.
“He pushed our lead forward there, but then he was really disappointed in some of his defence.
“He’s been much better than that for most of the year. I really like the attitude he’s got to equalise (and say) ‘I know I can do that, but I’ve also got to do that’.”
Walker wasn’t the only Rooster to struggle in defence in the second half, with Parramatta fighting back from 25-6 down soon after half-time to reduce the deficit to one point with three tries in a 10-minute blitz.
But the Roosters responded in style, with winger Joseph Suaalii scoring his second try of the match in the 61st minute after rising high to grab a pinpoint Luke Keary cross-field bomb.
Contenders or pretenders?
Parramatta’s inconsistency continues to throw doubt over the Eels’ premiership credentials.
A week after ending reigning premiers Penrith’s unbeaten start to the season, Parramatta – who also beat the Melbourne Storm earlier this year – again failed to live up to expectations.
While their second-half performance was admirable, the Eels’ first-half display was extremely disappointing.
“Our start was poor,” Eels coach Brad Arthur said.
“The games that we’ve lost this year, we’ve been beaten to the punch at the start of the game.
“We’re waiting to see what the opposition can do. We need to go after the game at the start.”
Origin setback for Blues
Victor Radley’s hopes of NSW State of Origin selection suffered a blow when he was forced
off inside the opening 20 minutes with an ankle injury.
Under some heavy attention from the Eels defence, the Roosters back-rower’s ankle seemed to get stuck under him as he passed the ball to teammate James Tedesco.
Radley will have scans on what seems to be a syndesmosis injury.
“Victor doesn’t usually report injuries at all,” concerned Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.
“Medical staff have to try to pry it out of him, so when ‘Rads’ was limping like that, it looked like a few weeks (on the sidelines).”
With injured Souths forward Cameron Murray out of contention for game one of the Origin series, Radley was a chance of forcing his way into the Blues pack, which could include his Roosters teammate Angus Crichton.
Originally published as Sam Walker instrumental as Roosters survive second-half fightback from Parramatta
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