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Opinion
The Roosters held off a gallant Bulldogs by 22-16 at Bankwest Stadium on saturday night, in a game that finished with a bizarre play from Sam Walker.
With seconds left on the clock, the young Rooster sprinted from near the Bulldogs tryline all the way back to his own to run down the clock.
“Walker’s running the other way! He’s got to run for 20 seconds,” commentator Andrew Voss said. “This is ridiculous.
“He’s run 90 metres backwards, I don’t know if Trent Robinson is all that impressed with that.”
Although fans were divided by the play, coach Roninson backed Walker.
“Sammy, he’s smart. So, he knows the time on the clock, and he knows all of that,” Robinson said.
“It’s a different play and I think everybody will have their opinion on it. I think it’s great learning from Sammy about knowing how – he knows how to manage everything.
“He’s learning how to play all the tough parts of the game and all the smart parts of the game can back on the back of that.
“It’s smart to manage the clock, but it goes against, I guess, what some purists would say ‘owning the game’. But you know, he took the risk out of the last play and finished the game off.”
In sharp contrast to their big losses last week, both sides proved more committed in defence.
But it didn’t start that way. In just the fourth minute, Matt Ikuvalu made a long break on what seemed like a standard hit up.
By the end of the set, the Roosters had opened the scoring.
After smart lead-up work from Victor Radley and Walker, Drew Hutchison found himself in space. He got the ball on to Billy Smith, who scored in his first appearance for the Roosters since 2019.
The Roosters were in again just three minutes later. A Walker kick ricocheted off Lachlan Lewis and fell in the path of Sitili Tupouniua. He dived on it to put the Roosters ahead 10-0 after just nine minutes.
(Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)
Bulldogs fans were having flashbacks to last round and were fearing the worst.
However, with a few Roosters errors creeping in, the Bulldogs managed to steady. After a strong set, a Sione Katoa grubber earned Canterbury another set.
From the ensuing drop out, Lachlan Lewis, a late replacement for Kyle Flanagan, chipped early in the count and was there to score an opportune try.
With almost 20 minutes gone, the Bulldogs were back within four.
Perhaps understandable given the conditions, the next ten minutes were scrappy. Both sides were guilty of handling errors and the match looked headed for a grind.
With ten minutes left in the half, though, the Roosters kicked ahead again. Radley and Walker were again involved, before Joseph Manu cut back inside, beat two defenders and scored behind the posts.
You could sense this time that the Bulldogs wouldn’t go away and they scored with seven minutes left in the half.
A Lewis grubber was taken in goal by Manu. In his desperation to get back infield, the ball came loose and Lewis was there to claim his second.
Despite the fast start by the Roosters, they only led 16-10 at the break.
The Bulldogs started the second half with plenty of purpose, winning the middle for the first time in the match.
They got their chance six minutes in when Ikuvalu couldn’t hang on to a contested bomb.
With the Bulldogs’ halves favouring a short side play, the ball went to the right open side. Nick Meaney sprinted through a yawning gap and the scores were level.
Only a few minutes later, Ikuvalu was taken out while taking another bomb.
The resulting penalty and then a set restart gave the Roosters the field position they needed. Walker threw a long, floating pass to Ikuvalu and he redeemed himself with a try to put the Roosters ahead.
They led by four with just under half an hour remaining.
With Jared Waerea-Hargreaves back on the field, the Roosters were again controlling the territory game.
They couldn’t conjure the play to put the game to bed but they were starving the Bulldogs of opportunities to score.
With just four minutes remaining, the Roosters kicked a penalty goal to go a converted try ahead and it proved to be enough.
It wasn’t pretty by any means, but Trent Robinson will happily bank the two points and move on to a match up with the struggling Cowboys next week.
Trent Barrett will no doubt be proud of the effort but the Bulldogs just didn’t have the class to prevail when the game was on the line.
3 points: Captaincy agrees with Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. He ran for more than 200 metres in the middle, made in excess of 30 tackles and was a major reason why the Bulldogs couldn’t get field position late in the game.
2 points: Victor Radley showed the Roosters what they have been missing these last few weeks. He played plenty of first receiver, hit the ball up when required, and made some outstanding hits in defence.
1 point: Josh Jackson will never be seen as a flashy player, but he puts in 100 per cent every week. He topped the match tackle count at 56, repelling raid after raid in the second half with the Roosters threatening to pull away.
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