Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson’s NRL bunker wars have been renewed after his side suffered again in a costly loss to South Sydney.
The Rabbitohs won 54-12, running away in a spiteful second half after fullback Latrell Mitchell’s high shot sent Roosters centre Joey Manu to hospital with a suspected broken cheekbone.
Liam Knight was also reported for an apparent hip drop tackle that left Siosiua Taukeiaho with a knee injury, while Ben Thomas was accidentally concussed in a tackle to add to the Roosters’ horror injury toll.
Robinson didn’t hold back post-game, labelling the NRL bunker a circus and a farce “that bad it’s actually funny” for their handling of both Manu and Taukeiaho’s incidents.
His outburst follows something similar after a high shot on captain James Tedesco earlier this year and Dylan Brown’s knees into the back of Drew Hutchison that went unpunished earlier in the season.
The NRL’s response to those previous injuries was the controversial high contact crackdown.
(Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
But Robinson felt they were back to square one again given the lack of action taken at Suncorp Stadium on Friday.
“It’s been really frustrating this year; we had the head highs on Teddy in the Anzac game then the knees in the Parra game and then the game changed,” Robinson said.
“All of a sudden we were going to protect our players, that’s what it was.
“But the guy’s (Manu) off to hospital, they get forced to finally making a call on it and they send him (Mitchell) for ten in the bin.
“It was laughable, it was that bad. They don’t know what they were doing.
“If you can’t do it get out of there or just get rid of it (the bunker) completely.”
The Roosters could have Angus Crichton (suspension), Adam Keighran (concussion) and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves (knee) back for their final-round clash while Matt Ikuvalu (ankle), Victor Radley (suspension) and Josh Morris (hamstring) could be back for finals.
But they still have a casualty ward in double figures and will slip out of the top four if Manly beat Canterbury on Sunday.
“It’s rare to say I’m really proud … when we lose 54-12,” Robinson said of their resolve.
“We fought our way back to 24-12, it was right there.
“They’re the best team in the comp at shifting the ball and asking those questions and we didn’t get that done and it cost us the game.”
© AAP
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