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Trent Robinson all but confirmed the worst fears of Roosters fans after Joey Manu limped out of their 26-16 win over Souths on the opening night at the new Allianz Stadium.
“He hurt his calf and was pretty clear that he had to come off,” said the coach. “It doesn’t look great.”
Manu was just one casualty of a bruising game that began with South Sydney losing their captain, Cameron Murray, in the second tackle and a host of other players departing early.
Alongside Murray and Manu, Sam Verrills hurt a hand and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves came off with a hamstring complaint just 15 minutes in, while the Bunnies also had Siliva Havili removed after two concussion tests.
Murray fronted the press conference and said that he felt fine, though he and Havili must go through the standard NRL protocols for returning to play after concussions.
Robinson confirmed that the decision to remove Waerea-Hargreaves was precautionary, and that despite the prop keeping warm on the sideline throughout the game, he was never likely to get back on.
(Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
“It was more precautionary,” he said. “Those guys don’t say, ‘No I’m not playing’. That’s the mindset you want from them but it’s up to us to tell them to stop sometimes.”
The injury narrative was always going to overtake events with such a big fixture coming, but this was a high-quality clash that showcased how far the Roosters have come in the last few months, especially in their halves combination.
Luke Keary and Sam Walker ensured that the sell-out crowd of 41,906 went home happy, with the senior man laying on three tries while the 20-year-old scored an excellent solo effort. The midseason switch of roles has worked wonders.
James Tedesco, too, was rampant at times: he pushed 250m with ball in hand and, on another night, might have scored twice.
“His intuition around that side of the field is really key for us,” said Robinson of Keary. “He’s seeing those opportunities well, and he’s got a really good combination with Angus there.
“He’s key to the way that we play and when he can drive the team, but also when he can sniff out those opportunities.”
Souths will hope that this was just merely a bad dress rehearsal.
The Bunnies were already without coach Jason Demetriou and hooker Damien Cook due to Covid isolation and lost their talismanic captain early on. Without Murray, the fluency of Souths’ attack was much missed.
They needed Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell to fire: Walker was quiet, while Mitchell, hate figure No.1 for Roosters fans, was met with a specific defensive plan that blunted his involvement.
He was battered, especially on kick returns, made a dog’s dinner of two dropouts and had the ignominy of being binned late for a professional foul. Nat Butcher also joined him just before the close.
“We didn’t start as well as they did and, obviously, losing Murray didn’t help,” said stand-in coach Ben Hornby.
“The Roosters were doing a good job putting us in our own end and we were under pressure the whole time. They are a good side and they are going to score points which is eventually what happened.”
Souths struggled to recover from the loss of their captain. They were behind in the middle battle from the get-go, and with the quick Roosters play the ball came opportunity.
Keary has been revitalised by playing slightly further out from the ruck, he is able to spot defenders in the line and play to them, which he did with aplomb to put Crichton over the top of Lachlan Ilias.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
On their first good ball set, the Bunnies managed the same and got Keaon Koloamatangi in, but the bunker saw an obstruction in the build up and the try was wiped.
The momentum swing was only temporary. Tedesco made a huge break up the middle, forced a drop out and Mitchell failed his attempt to take it short. Walker gladly took the penalty goal.
It would get yet better. Keary again found Crichton running the perfect line, with the second rower able to make the break and get the ball inside to Tedesco.
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Souths did look capable when they got field position. They struggled to generate much of it, but managed to capitalise in the 25th minutes thanks to a piece of Mitchell magic.
The fullback seemed to have been caught with nowhere to go against a Roosters scramble, but found a left foot kick with the perfect bend for Peter Mamouzelos, on for Murray, to get his first NRL try.
Mitchell was impossible to remove from the action. Every touch was met with boos and extra effort from the defenders to put him under pressure.
With 10 to the break, he failed with another short drop out attempt, and this time the Roosters declined the easy two points and took four. Walker, again, was the man to get on the scoresheet after catching Mitchell out of position and executing the chip chase for himself.
The Roosters started the second half with the same vigour. They had the same tactics, too: Keary again played short to a back-rower for a try, this time Egan Butcher finding a gap between Ilias and Koloamatangi.
Souths, again, managed to keep themselves in it immediately. Ilias got one back for his ledger, digging into the line and finding Walker, who shuffled along to Taane Milne.
With the smallest sliver of grass between his boot and the chalk, he managed to find the only available patch of in-goal for the ball for one of the finishes of the year.
Milne would be back amongst it. After Mitchell had been sat down for the final 10 minutes following a petty professional foul, Walker took an intercept and went 70m before being hauled in. The Bunnies kept their heads, spread to the other side and handed the Fijian international an easy put down.
Souths were a man light, but had the wind in their sails. Mark Nicholls almost found Jai Arrow to put on the grandstand finish, and when Alex Johnston finally got free in the 77th minute, he was held down by Nat Butcher to even up the contest at 12-a-side.
It didn’t matter. As much as Souths pushed, the Roosters responded and held on.