Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson says he was pleased with the way Blake Ferguson coped with the occasion of facing former NRL club Canberra on Sunday.
Ferguson, who was sacked by the Raiders in 2013, starred in the 34-6 win, scoring a try, adding a try assist, four tackle busts and 125 metres to his his name before limping off in the second half with a foot injury.
He was seen leaving the ground on crunches, wearing a moon boot on his right foot.
The Roosters say he will have scans on the injury and it is their only fitness concern from the game.
Robinson says Ferguson handled the occasion of playing his former club well.
“Sometimes it can turn pear-shaped I guess,” Robinson said.
“I have sensed guys at different times over the years not play against their old club well, not handle it well.
“Whereas Blake obviously did that.”
Ferguson was shown the door by the Canberra board after going AWOL for several weeks and spent a year out of the game before being given a lifeline by the Roosters on a one-year contract.
Despite his fine performance, Robinson said the centre didn’t go out to prove anything to the club that showed him the door.
“There’s a lot of respect there for Canberra,” he said.
“He knows he was the issue. Nothing to do with Canberra. There’s a lot of respect there.
“It’s not an anger or anything, which sometimes players play with.
“So it’s easier for the emotion to keep in check. Sometimes you get signs in the week. They end up changing a bit – they either go quiet or they talk more.
“I talked to Blake about it. There was no difference in him.”
Six of the Roosters’ seven-strong backline crossed for tries with Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Michael Jennings, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, James Maloney and Daniel Tupou joining Ferguson on the scoresheet.
Robinson said he’s been pleased with the progress of Tuivasa-Sheck at fullback and he is growing into the huge hole left by the retirement of Roosters great Anthony Minichiello.
“He’s doing some really good things, his placement is getting better,” Robinson said.
“He’s worked really hard on his defensive stuff and that has been really good.
“He’s getting a real sense of where to be around Junior (Michell Pearce), Jimmy (Maloney) and the hookers, that’s getting better.”
“We never under-estimated Roge, he’s worked hard on being a defensive fullback … I thought he owned the line.
“I’ve heard Craig Bellamy say Billy Slater owns his defensive line.
“I think a lot of fullback play is getting them to understand that.
“Roger has done that well and his attack is growing and getting better.”
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart lamented his side’s inability to keep the ball after making 14 handling errors that extended their rotten record at Allianz Stadium which has now seen them win just one of their past 17 visits.
“We didn’t execute correctly and dropped five times in our first seven sets,” Stuart said.
“You can’t do that against a side of this quality. It’s disappointing but we’ll learn from it.”
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