As a long-time proud and passionate Sydney Roosters supporter it pained me to see them put up such a listless and uninspiring performance against the North Queensland Cowboys.
The Roosters had so much to play for, with a spot in the NRL grand final on the line.
The lack of intensity and costly errors at crucial stages would seem to suggest that the attitude of a lot of the players wasn’t what it should have been and that they weren’t ‘up’ for the match.
The Roosters were the favourites and deservedly so with the home ground advantage, a week off which should have worked in their favour, and a psychological boost after beating the Cowboys 22-16 only seven weeks ago in Round 20.
That being said, the inability of the Roosters players to concentrate for the full 80 minutes has been a worrying trend that has developed and been evident for a while now. It was all too clear to see again in their loss to the Cowboys.
Make no mistake about it the Cowboys deserved their Victory and full credit to them for another inspired, passionate and outstanding performance. They wanted it more and outplayed and out-enthused the Roosters in so many facets of the game.
For Jared Waerea Hargreaves to also come out in the press during the week challenging Jason Taumalolo and then not delivering on his big talk showed a real lack of respect for Taumalolo, but also for the Cowboys team, you could have read into it a hint of cockiness and arrogance.
In future, JWH maybe you should spend more time concentrating on your own backyard rather than talking yourself up and firing up the opposition, talk is cheap if you don’t deliver on it.
Sure, some fans will be quick to point out that making the preliminary final was a great effort and that fans shouldn’t criticise their team when they lose, but let’s not sugarcoat the result.
The Cowboys were without Johnathan Thurston and Matt Scott yet they dominated the Roosters for large portions of the match.
By My reckoning the Cowboys players have desire, belief and spirit in bucket loads, it’s a pity that some of the Roosters players don’t also have some of those attributes – or if they do they didn’t play like they did against the Cowboys.
It can only be hoped that Trent Robinson and the Roosters players do some serious soul searching in the off season and come back bigger and better next year, because they definitely didn’t do themselves justice against the Cowboys.
Maxim
Guest
Hi Michael! I'm a fan of Rooster, but I agree with you 100%. They did not have a glint in their eyes and a desire to tear the opponent to shreds in order to come to victory, as happened in 2013. P.S. Roosters are steeper than all, Michael.
The Messenger
Guest
which Cronulla junior clubs did Gallon/Maloney/Fifita/Heighton/Bird/Beale/Lewis for an example play or then - Sharks home grown ???
The Messenger
Guest
Much more to it than that As an example Billy Bloggs is playing Junior Footy for Parramatta - he is playing SG Ball at that stage and is rated one of the best juniors going around as a result of the academy Parramatta have in place. Cronulla sign Billy Blogs who then plays NYC and NSW Cup for them- Billy is developed to NRL standard and plays His first NRL Game (round 26) for the Sharks- where he is judged one of the best players on the field.. Due to players entrenched in his Favoured position at the Sharks his chances of playing regular NRL games were limited resulting in him signing with South's mid season during the season. Billy then goes onto become a regular NRL player in a Struggling Souths side as well as winning the Souths Best and Fairest player in his two seasons and Dally M position award for both year and Dally M player of the year runner up for those 2 seasons Billy requests a release from the final year of his Souths contract to sign with Manly where he becomes a regular SOO and Australian player as a result playing in the star studded Manly side where is game has reached another level. Under the above who is then is compensated for Billy's Development - do the Sharks pay compensation to Parramatta - Do Souths pay compensation to the Sharks- Do Manly pay compensation to Souths and so on. All played a part in Billy's development.
The Messenger
Guest
Tedesco is getting less than the Tigers offered - he went to the Roosters to improve his game under Minichiello and play finals footy- been reported widely this and I have nothing to doubt this being the case.
Flying DoorMat
Guest
Toupu wasn't fit - Manu would have been better than Matterson being a backrower-
Flying DoorMat
Guest
yes it was a mistake having Topou on the bench - a winger who came on in the last 5 or so minutes and apart from being pushed back into the in goal didn't do anything as he was not fit to play - if fit would have started- Only one premiership and grand final appearance despite being minor premiers three times in a row and 2nd this season- Sure you can say that is an achievement but it's a result based industry - Des Hasler despite his record at the Dogs- only this year did they miss the finals - two GF appearances - was sacked. Your leader Politis would have been very disappointed with the somewhat meak surrender in the prelim final again this year - 3rd time your team has lost this match- It was not a case of the Cows being white hot - it was a case of the same players making the same mistakes and the same players putting in sub standard performances - many went missing and many were ineffective - all the hype from Hargreaves and Napa on how they were going to target Tamalo certainly back fired neither ran more than 50 metres- he ran 200 metres plus/ Friend ran zero metres. Your club needs to have a major review of where you go from here as you have had 3 chances to add to the tally of premierships since 2013- teams need to capitalise on these opportunities when in such positions as they come along far and few between.
Flying DoorMat
Guest
Raiders went from 2nd in 2016 to missing the 8 in 2017 You team has lost a fair bit of depth- SKD mid season/ Guerra/Evans and strangely Watson - only one new signing in Tedesco who will have to play out of his skin week in week out - you lack depth in both backs(centres/wing/5/8 and half) and forwards(front row especially) - why your coach was forced to play two back rowers in the centres- your team looks like being the following - only could name 16 - Maybe you can name some others of NRL quality who can push for a place in the team. - Your coach lost faith in Manu for instance and Gordon will need to play as you have no other reliable goal kicker as well. Tedesco Topou Mitchell Ferguson Gordon Keary Pearce Lui Cordner Matterson Hargreaves Friend Napa Bench Aubusson Takihoho Tetivano ?
Mushi
Guest
Made 94 more tackle and yet barely missed one. Ran for more than the opposition per hit up. If that is flat then gee if they were on they'd beat teams by 200
Tim
Guest
I think the coach may have to take some blame on the positional changes too. Joseph Manu on the wing instead of Matterson & Tupou out on the other wing.
HarryT
Guest
Yeah. Melbourne have 12 robots and 5 players with flair. Refs don't want to blow too many penalties for SOO and finals, so the difficulty playing Qld, Storm and Cowboys is getting any turnovers. Playing attacking football against their strong defense leads to errors that give them even more grinding possession and that tends to mess with opponents heads, which leads to more errors. Look at the Broncos last week. Both teams will be playing from the same hymn book in the GF, so it will be interesting to see who does it better.
mushi
Guest
To be honest the raving always seemed out of place. I'm a roosters fan and I was trying to say that our bad for and against was actually inflated but given where we were last year and how young some of the team is I just don't understand the negativity
Nat
Roar Guru
Really? Having Topou on the bench was a mistake. Literally everything else you have written is simply wrong. Finishing 2nd comfortably is one thing and constant prelim finals and grand final appearances would suggest a quality coach and roster. Unless you are a Melbourne supporter, your team is far worse.
Albo
Guest
Yep ! And surely the coach must take some heat for his decisions in having Tupoa on the bench with Watson, limiting the forward interchange options ? He was lucky they didn't suffer any injuries to test the risky bench. Whilst the player errors , and poor on-field management were the chief contributors to their performance, I think the coach has got off lightly in the upshot.
Albo
Guest
I have seen Napa play one good match in his career. And he has fed off that media over-hype ever since. The Cowboys toilers put him to bed with ease on the weekend.
Albo
Guest
I agree ! The Chooks simply made too many errors despite having chances to win the game.
mushi
Guest
So the entire squad needs to fired ....but the coach should be fired because he should have gotten this group to the grand final? Everything about their play is predictable...but the same players, with tedesco added in, will result in at least minimum 7 spot drop in the standings. ???
Albo
Guest
I just think that the salary cap is doing its intended job of trying to keep the teams competitive with each other at least in terms of opportunity to put together a roster of players of somewhat equal ability. Apart from the Storm which has been able to retain a high quality and consistent high performing roster for years based on their big 3 foundation, the rest of the teams were all pretty even throughout the year. Any team was capable of beating any other team ( apart from Storm) on the day. If ever a team was to make the Grand Final from 8th place , it was this season. As we saw the 4th placed Eels belted by last placed Knights just a fortnight out from the finals, and then back up and put 50 on 3rd placed Brisbane ? There was very little between most of the teams and it is no surprise for me to see the Cowboys win through to the grand final as they have forged together a month of tough teamwork and solid game plan under the on field management provided by Michael Morgan and off field work of coach Green. I still can't see the Cowboys getting over the Storm to complete the fairy tale, as the Storm have the class advantage and the game managers to convert that superiority on most days.
Samuel Nobbs
Guest
Its been a weak season.
mushi
Guest
Yep but then there’s got to have been at least a half century of articles about how you can’t out Melbourne the Storm. If the roosters tried to play that grind style of game they may not even make the finals. That’s what irritates me with experts like Pryde saying they didn’t “play” 80 minutes a single time this year. It’s actually because they stuck with the same plan for 80 minutes that it produced bad patches. They played higher risk in attack forcing balls closer to the line and selecting some rocks and diamonds guys and living with the consequences. Playing that strategy is going to produce extended poor periods, but given their roster and the pervading structure of the league it gave the team the best shot to outperform. In an ideal world you could have a team that could oscillate between the two but I’ll back the formation of a global borderless utopia before you get a squad of 17 NRL players so tactically and technically adept that they can just switch between diametrically opposed game plans mid match.
mushi
Guest
Oh well your entirely to your opinion, but I likewise have to disagree with your disagreement and provide counter points to each element of your rationale. “lucky to get that close in the first half” the try was certainly lucky, but retaining line speed whilst not having possession isn’t luck, it’s effort. “Cowboys bombed at least 2 chances to score tries when they opted for no risk plays & that flattered the roosters.” But that was the cowboys plan, we can’t go great control of the match from Morgan and then say but they should have thrown caution to the wind here, here and there and they’d blow them away. You’re assuming that they would execute to the same perfect degree if they took more risk which is just a failure of logic. Conversely if they’d not just applied the screws they may have made errors and let the roosters off the hook. “I reckon the roosters just expected the Cowboys to tire after their hard road to the game” – this seems odd but let’s entertain for a second that a team that has hardly been blowing away good teams this year (the roosters) would think hey let’s go the rope a dope strategy in semi-final against a team with a 200 metre a game monster that still had a week off. You may not have any respect for Robinson as a coach but surely even the worst tactical mind in the history of rugby league wouldn’t pick that team, and play that style if the game plan was simply designing to wear the opposition down (because you do that by retaining the ball in attack not by having to push up tackle after tackle in defence). I am just stunned that people can see a team make 13 errors and go, oh they were just waiting for the opposition to tire? Huh? “Pearce had no plan b in the kit” – plan A worked when they executed, they made metres quite easily, a new plan with the same level of execution wasn’t going to help unless it somehow involved teleporting the cowboys to another city, even then I’m not sure we would have held onto the ball. If Pearce has a plan that can magically erase a close to 100 tackle possession deficit then he would be the greatest rugby league player of all time. “Keary seemed flat” - Agree as in he was flat to the line in attack. So when they actually got the ball he had a try and line break right? Sure that’s what you mean because that’s hardly bad involvement for a journeyman half on a team 94 tackles in the red. “they lacked punch in the front row”- assume you mean the middle (and I assume by “back rowers” you mean bench middle forwards as the old 1980s “back row” played all 80 minutes on each side) in which case how much do you freaking need? They averaged more metres per run from their middle forwards than the cowboys despite Taumalolo going for 12.2 a run and the roosters middle making 50% more tackles each. What they needed was better execution (and to not pick Tupou…)