The Roosters can’t take a trick at times. Even when they win, they find a way to lose.
This afternoon’s victory might feel a little like that: they triumphed 18-16 on the back of a strong first half, but lost Luke Keary to a suspected fractured jaw, adding to an injury and suspension list that is already lengthy.
The halfback caught a stray boot from future teammate Dom Young and now joins Victor Radley, Brandon Smith, Sam Walker and Joseph Suaalii on the sidelines.
Trent Robinson finally got a performance from his men, with Joey Manu putting in his best showing of the year, but will now be without his chief playmaker for a substantial period of time.
“People get boots all the time at different angles, but for it to break his jaw like that, that’s our game,” said the coach.
“It’s really difficult, he’s been leading the way with (Jared Waerea-Hargreaves) during the week and on the weekends for us.
“Not having Sammy (Walker) back for a couple of weeks (hurts), he’s just come out of the brace, but I always say during the Origin period, that’s when clubs stand up.
Newcastle had raced into a lead through Young, but were pegged back by a salvo from Nat Butcher – off a break from replacement half Sandon Smith – and Manu, before Daniel Tupou moved closer to the Chooks’ tryscoring record with a try at the corner.
The Knights fought back hard in the second half, with Young adding a second and Bradman Best racing away for a third, but couldn’t complete the comeback.
Not for the first time this year, Adam O’Brien will look at this as two points lost. His side had plenty of chances, but just like last week in Brisbane – and previous games with the Panthers and Cowboys – didn’t make the most of what they created.
“(We have) to not lose faith, to hang in there, to keep fighting,” said the Knights boss.
“I don’t want them to lose heart with losing by two points each week or four points, coming close and not putting together two halves.
“The first 15 to 20 minutes our defensive structures were pulled apart and we looked nervous. We came up with some bad reads and bad efforts defensively and then it took a kick up the backside at halftime.
“We look miles better than we did in the first half, so that’s the frustrating thing, that we can start like that each week or finish that way.”
There’s been plenty to pick apart with the Roosters of late, not least their attack. Diagnosing the problem is hard, given how many things have been going wrong, but top of the pile would be the lack of off-ball movement – push supports, decoys, etc – and the selection of square pegs in round holes.
Both of those aspects looked a lot better here. Manu is a far better fullback than he is a five eighth, and benefitted from less ball in better positions.
At 6, he got a lot of touches but was generally too close to the ruck and under too much line speed pressure to do anything, whereas at 1, his overall possession stats are down but he got the footy in far more advantageous positions, with the ability to pick his moments to get involved. Less is more in that regard.
Beyond that, it was a stellar showing in the more prosaic fullback stuff. Manu broke the single game metres record for the year, topping out above 300 off a ridiculous 28 carries. All that stuff is still there, too.
Manu was assisted in that by a much more active pack, which gave far more options than they have been doing. Sitili Tupouniua returned to an edge and Nat Butcher played through the middle, with the net results of more off-ball running, better lines and a greater amount of deception in the attack.
Sandon Smith, too, helped here. He’s a natural halfback and, while he might not be a world-beater – this is just game 3 in the NRL – there’s a lot to be said for someone who distributes, organises and steers. Keary has rarely done his best work in this area.
The issue for the Chooks will be maintaining this setup. It only works when James Tedesco is out, and the chance of Manu making the fullback role his own are slim to none.
With Keary now out for the foreseeable, the Kiwi international will have to return to five eighth, where it has been proven he is less effective. It’s good to have a replacement as good as Manu, but it’s also a waste of a huge talent in a position that doesn’t suit him.
Adam O’Brien must pull his hair out. His side have all the constituent parts of a good footy team, but put them together so infrequently that it must be infuriating.
Today, they had ample opportunity to outscore the Roosters, but were unable to ice opportunities. Newcastle made comfortably more line breaks, and while the Roosters’ scramble was excellent, the lack of clinicality in attack was telling.
Best was twice left unused in open space when he surely would have made it to the line, while on multiple occasions on the other side, the ball never made it as far as Young when the winger was in ample space. Both did get over, but it might have been more.
It’s encouraging that the Knights can create such opportunities. The move of Kalyn Ponga to fullback has revitalised his game and this was another great showing, with two line breaks and a try assist.
Collectively, there’s a feeling that this side is still one or two away from being a genuine finals chance.
They might point out that Jayden Brailey is injured and Phoenix Crossland very much a stopgap at 9, which is fair enough. Tyson Gamble, too, is a serviceable five eighth and always competes.
But neither are quite of the standard of Jackson Hastings, and are miles off Ponga’s level. The backline was firing, but the shots didn’t quite come.
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