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Luke Keary played a starring role for the Sydney Roosters as they survived a late scare from the Canterbury Bulldogs to continue their impressive start to the year, taking victory by four points at Allianz Stadium.
The Roosters were slow out of the gate, but after conceding a couple of early tries, they got into the game and were never behind in the game again after they got on the scoreboard themselves.
The Bulldogs energy from the start of the match was impressive to see, with the Bondi-based club constantly under pressure and forced into offloads, which brought errors and paved the way for Canterbury to make a strong start to the match.
It took just three minutes for the Bulldogs to cross for the first try, with the Roosters paying the price for an error and defensive lapse with Kerrod Holland crashing over in the corner.
Unfortunately, he injured his shoulder in the process and it hurt the Bulldogs defence for the rest of the game, with a reshuffle needed on the park.
It also cruelled Canterbury’s goal kicking, and in the end it was the difference as Moses Mbye struggled to slot any.
Another error and the Bulldogs were over again to extend their lead, this time through Josh Morris after they went straight onto the counter attack.
The Roosters then turned to Jake Friend who turned the game on its head with a monster 40/20 after the side again battled to get out of their own end.
A drop out later and Mitchell Pearce, along with recruit Luke Keary decided it was time to take the game over. They set the first try up for Boyd Cordner in the 16th minute with Pearce passing out the back to Keary, who then offloaded for Cordner to crash over as he ran on an angle straight into a hole.
It took 11 minutes for the next try, but Daniel Tupou would crash over after Mitchell Pearce set it up on the other side of the field with a pass that sent Blake Ferguson through the line. With a stretched defence, Latrell Mitchell poked a kick into the in goal and Tupou crashed over.
The Bulldogs continued their struggles at both ends of the park, and the Roosters had no problems extending their lead as Keary kicked on a five-cent piece for Daniel Tupou to run past an out of position Brenko Lee and extend the lead.
A penalty goal on the stroke of halftime had the Roosters up by eight going into the sheds.
The second half produced an even affair with both sides struggling to maintain any sense of dominance. The Roosters started it strongly, before the Bulldogs threatened to come back not once, but twice eventually failing to get back ahead on the scoreboard.
Blake Ferguson was the first man over the strike in the second half, with the Roosters forwards winning the position battle through the middle. Mitchell Pearce set it up, kicking for the corner with Shawn Kenny-Dowall batting a ball back down for the centre.
It was to be one of the final plays for Ferguson who was taken from the field with a worrying rib injury.
The Bulldogs began their fightback with a try not long after on the back of a Mitchell Pearce strip. On the attack, they sent a lovely ball to Brett Morris, Josh Jackson tipping on a miraculous pass before Morris worked through the soft defence to score.
The game then went back and forth for about ten minutes before Adam Elliott went over for the Bulldogs to shrink the gap to four, but the Roosters were able to hang on and then extend their lead on the back of an error with Mitchell Aubusson streaking away to score from a lovely Luke Keary ball.
Josh Morris then scores in the final minutes of the game for the Bulldogs, leaving the gap at four but they couldn’t make anything happen in the last three minutes, the Roosters able to survive.
Tries: Roosters (5), Bulldogs (5)
Goals: Roosters (3/5), Bulldogs (2/5)
Penalty goals: Roosters (1/1), Bulldogs (nil)
Possession: Roosters (51%), Bulldogs (49%)
Completions: Roosters (24/33), Bulldogs (27/35)
All runs: Roosters (154), Bulldogs (156)
All run metres: Roosters (1318), Bulldogs (1326)
Line breaks: Roosters (5), Bulldogs (4)
Offloads: Roosters (9), Bulldogs (10)
40/20: Roosters (1), Bulldogs (0)
Tackles: Roosters (308), Bulldogs (288)
Missed tackles: Roosters (22), Bulldogs (22)
Penalties: Roosters (2), Bulldogs (5)
Errors: Roosters (12), Bulldogs (9)
Sydney Roosters 28
Canterbury Bulldogs 24