With so much consistency and unwavering commitment over the years, the Roosters have entered into a clash with their Round 12 Cronulla as perhaps the toughest NRL team to predict.
They have been throughout the store for the first two months, getting better from Paramatman and Manley but losing to the Fighting Knights, Dragons and Bulldogs.
The roosters are like Forrest Gump’s boxes of chocolates – you never know what you’ll get.
Perhaps the most powerful measure of how they travel came to SCG last Saturday night when they came up against the NRL’s new benchmark team Premier Penrith – a title that Roosters has shared with Melbourne for the past decade.
They were ready for the competition, holding it goalless for the first 28 minutes but once the Panthers scored, the floodgates opened and the 18-0 half-time deficit turned to 32-12.
(Photo by Matt King / Getty Images)
Robinson’s clear assessment after the rate was “they’re better than us at the moment, it’s clear.” It would be ridiculous to suggest otherwise but for the trivial ones it is a hard pill to consume because this season was supposed to be one where they would return to the fine end of the ladder.
Their 2021 campaign was ruined by the untimely retirement of co-captain Boyd Cordner and Jake Friend and champion winger Brett Morris, season-end ACL Luke Kerry and Lindsay Collins were in tears, among other serious injuries but the club still have not been able to do just that. Fight in the second round in the final but before the puff runs out.
Roosters have tried to revive their roster with young blood and teen prodigies Sam Walker and Joseph Swalley are quickly finding their footing at the NRL level but neither team has been able to win the title without the leadership of established stars.
Before the Panthers’ defeat they felt like they were getting back on track – they jumped to fourth behind the 2844-16 Titans traversing and an impressive 31-24 win over an eagle side that fell below Penrith the color of the previous week.
But they are now back in seventh place with a 6-5 record which adds up to their inconsistent season and need to build a strong performance against the resurgent sharks, who have taken their place in the top four.
At his media conference on Friday he had to deal with the additional confusion of whether the Roosters would try to take Payne Haas from the Broncos in the wake of his contract dispute with the club but Robinson was adamant it had nothing to do with them. And refuses to be painted on “Pie in the Sky Stuff”.
“There has been no discussion [about Haas], No internal discussion, no external discussion. It’s really clear, “said Robinson on Friday. “People can guess but we’re not guessing inside the house.
“It’s been a week for the last three weeks and none of that is true,” he added when asked about joining potential employers like Haas. “It simply came to our notice then. There has been endless speculation for many years. Anyone can get a free ride talking about cock or divert, which has probably happened in the last few weeks.
“Payne’s situation doesn’t affect our players because they know it’s not there but there are other things that have been really confusing because it’s a complete lie and people want to make stiff. But this is our world, people are interested. It will fill a few columns, it will probably fill the news tonight but it is untrue. “
(Photo by Matt King / Getty Images)
The JWH drama is a glimpse of a frustrated mindset
The Jared Waerea-Hargreaves incident was an older player and representative of the team’s railing against the light.
He gave James Fischer-Harris a clear watch while scoring a goal, but when referee Gerard Sutton called him about it, the experienced propped up: “Do you consider every opportunity to put me on the report? [you do]. You do not count? I’m just saying. Every time, brother. The time of every king. That’s not right. “
First, the “I’m just saying” line doesn’t work. Ever. In the end no one ever soothed a sled by “just saying”.
Second, Sutton had the right to keep the JWH in the bin of sin, and it should have been dismissed directly to question his honesty, perhaps because the referee kept it for him.
Gordon Talis similarly called Bill Harrigan a cheater in an Origin match at Stadium Australia in 2000, and with less than 10 minutes left in the match, he fired him outright.
It is no coincidence that Harigan’s players had no problem attacking his integrity.
Robinson admits that Weria-Hargreaves should not have been sworn in, but says that if a Clinskin like James Tedesco had made this high tackle, he would not have been reported. He hit her hard – regardless of his judicial record or bad relationship with the ref, he will be reported for it.
He was cleared by the match review committee for the next step for the high shot but was fined $ 1800 for misconduct with the referee.
Money won’t make much of an impact but the new black mark on his record will be costly down the track if he violates it again. Her track record indicates that she will.
(Photo by Mark Colby / Getty Images)
The shark gets their bite back
Saturday night’s opposition to the party that the roosters thought they would be in 2022.
The Cronula have refreshed their roster over the past few years under former coach John Morris and are now reaping the rewards of playing for the likes of Will Kennedy, Ronaldo Mullitalo, Toby Rudolph, Braden Hamlin-Ule, Britton Nicora, Blake Braille. And Zion Katwa.
The 2016 premiership team’s last high-paid veterans – Andrew Fifita and Wade Graham – have had their contracts terminated at the end of the year and will face hefty pay cuts if they return to the club next year. They have already been replaced by off-season recruits Dale Finuken and Cameron McInes.
The acquisition of Nico Hynes at halfback at mid-level pay was a masterstroke for incoming coach Craig Fitzgerald when star payers representing playmakers like Anthony Milford in Brisbane suspended their pay cap spreadsheets. , Ash Taylor on the Titans and Luke Brooks on the West Tigers.
However, the Sharks are still among the teams at the bottom of Penrith and Melbourne who have climbed the stairs 3-10 and cannot be locked out as real competitors.
They also hinted at being an elite outfit by beating Paramatman and Manley, and going from toe to toe in one of the best clashes of the season with Storm in Melbourne but they lost twice to riders.
For coach Craig Fitzgerald, a lifelong member of the roster where he won the Premiership in 2002 and represented NSW and Australia before becoming Robinson’s longtime assistant, the Round 12 game carries extra significance.
When asked what he learned under Robinson, he said it is difficult to be concise.
“I wouldn’t be here today without my history on the rosters, and I wouldn’t be here without Trent’s guidance and knowledge. Lots of lessons, lots of life lessons, lots of coaching lessons might be able to tell in an interview but he knows what I think of him and we are incredibly close and I will never be able to thank him enough, ”he said on Friday.
“It’s not just that we’ve been working together for 10 years, we’ve been partners before, so you get closer anyway and over time you get closer. We talk regularly, if not weekly, fortnightly, just touch the base and talk about life just as much as we talk about footy. “
“You have to differentiate the personal bit from the professional bit,” Robinson said in coaching against one of his best teammates.
“We had our conversation earlier in the week. We got that and done with. We will coach our team and move on to victory. ”