Embarrassed by their last-start capitulation to cellar-dwellars Cronulla, NRL premiers the Sydney Roosters are keen to get their premiership defence back on track against top-of-the-table Penrith on Saturday.
The Tricolours gave up their biggest ever lead two rounds ago against the Sharks, leading 24-0 just before halftime before succumbing 30-28 at Allianz Stadium in round 17.
The Roosters have since had a bye weekend to stew over that loss and spent three days in camp at Avoca on the NSW Central Coast in a bid to reinvigorate their stalling season.
Tricolours centre three-quarter Shaun Kenny-Dowall said the Roosters know the clash against in-form Penrith shapes as a crucial test.
“We have to prove to ourselves that we can still play good football,” he said at training on Tuesday.
“We don’t have to prove to anyone else except for ourselves. They are going along really nicely so it has come at a good time for us.
“It is a good chance to claw one back on them, they are ahead of us on the ladder and we are looking to put in a good performance and get the ball rolling this Saturday.”
“They have been very consistent, they have a great young crop of guys and they have flown under the radar. We are looking forward to testing ourselves.”
Asked if the club was embarrassed about their effort against the Sharks, Kenny-Dowall replied: “I think so … 24-0 ahead we have the experience to go on and win those games even when they come back strongly like they did.
“We played badly and we did have some mid games injuries that shuffled our line but we are not using that as an excuse, that just wasn’t good enough.”
The Kiwi centre said the camp was a good chance to reevaluate the club’s goals for 2014.
“It was a good chance for us to get together and really have a set plan moving forward for these eight weeks and the way we want to perform,” he said
“We want to play to our strengths and make sure we get some momentum going into September and October.
“We haven’t been flat we just haven’t been playing to our potential and we are really looking forward to playing this weekend and putting into action everything we talked about at Avoca.”
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