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We are about to see if Roosters rookie coach Trent Robinson has made the same mistakes Geoff Toovey and Michael Maguire did last year in their introduction to NRL coaching.
Toovey inherited the 2011 premiers, Manly, from Des Hasler, while Maguire took over the famous South Sydney team.
Both were rookie coaches who did a fabulous job, but when it really counted their respective teams were unceremoniously dumped in the finals, going out in straight sets trying to qualify for the grand final.
Both the Manly Sea Eagles and the South Sydney Rabbitohs were shot ducks and were never going to be mentally or physically ready to qualify for the big dance. They were simply burnt out and imploded.
Toovey, a board member of the NRMA, was determined not to have another head on crash at the pointy end of the season this year.
His team did not have to play in the World Club Championship this time and he consciously started his team’s prep later than normal and made sure all of his players had recovered from any off season surgery before rushing them back.
South Sydney ran out of muscle last year and halfback Adam Reynolds broke down.
‘Madge’ Maguire has addressed both issues this year by fast-tracking the progress of the remainding fabulous Burgess brothers (now four playing) and introducing gun half Luke Keary, a star in his own right who is capable of playing both 6 and 7 if required.
Living legend Bart Cummings won 12 Melbourne Cups by ensuring his horses peaked on the first Tuesday in November, and likewise, it is impossible for a rugby league team to play at their best for 26 weeks and then expect to peak in the finals.
There is no doubt Toovey and Maguire have learnt their lessons and they seem to have their teams primed and ready to enter the final series with a sense of timing that was missing last year.
No team has won the grand final this century after contesting the WCC, so the Melbourne Storm has a massive challenge, not only to get back to form, but to actually peak during the finals.
So what about the exciting Sydney Roosters, who have achieved an incredible +300 differential points over the last 25 rounds based on the NRL’s best defence and some sparkling attack?
They are facing South Sydney this Friday night and many fans have already written them off after losing their last two games against the Sharks and the Titans and conceding a scary 62 points.
They only conceded 251 in the 23 games prior to that allowing less than 11 points per game.
So have the wheels fallen off at the Roosters?
One thing is for certain, the deep-thinking Trent Robinson will not be panicking. He knows he has a talented team who are about to play off for the minor premiership and, while he would never admit it, he knows he is just as skilled as his rival coach Madge Maguire.
Robbo will leave no stone unturned to try and get his Roosters not only back up again to claim the $100k first prize for the minor premiership, but to be able to sustain that form right through the finals series, something Maquire and Toovey got wrong in their rookie year.
Robbo could do worse than take a five minute drive from his Moore Park office to the adjacent suburb of Randwick and perhaps knock on the door of one James Bartholomew Cummings, AM.
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