Round 17 Roosters Vs Raiders match Review
The Sydney Roosters have fallen into such a rigid win-loss sequence that supporters were entitled to feel confident ahead of this afternoon’s visit to Canberra. The Raiders were backing up from Monday Night Football – always a difficult task – and the Roosters were in reasonable form after a spirited performance in New Zealand last week when they were desperately unlucky not to wrap up the two points.
A sizeable number of Roosters supporters made the trip down the Hume for Todd Carney’s second meeting with the club that terminated his contract 18 months ago. The Canberra ‘fans’ gave their former hero a predictably bitter reception. The Raiders Army serenaded the Roosters’ makeshift halfback with chants of “Carney’s a wanker,” obviously using their combined intellect to come up with such a witty and incisive criticism.
The home side enjoyed the lion’s share of field position in a scrappy opening ten minutes, until Carney (who else?) completed an 80 metre intercept try to open the scoring. Carney continued to be in the thick of the action when a superb downfield kick forced Raiders fullback Josh Dugan to keep the ball in play to avoid conceding a 40/20, only for Sam Perrett to pounce on the loose ball in the corner. That try was the highlight of an exciting performance for Perrett, who looks to have regained some of his lost form.
Despite trailing 10-0 after 15 minutes, Canberra worked their way back into the game (aided greatly by a five-nil first half penalty count in their favour, but that is a discussion for another day). Centre Joel Thompson scored a hugely contentious try from a bomb, which looked to be knocked forward off a Raiders hand into a Roosters player but was awarded under the truly perplexing ‘benefit of the doubt’ rule. Dugan made a great kick return to set up Joel Monaghan’s try just before the break, making the score 12-10 at half time.
The Roosters were on the back foot at the start of the second half, relying on stoic goal-line defence to deny Canberra. On a rare attacking foray, Mitchell Aubusson – who put in a typically good effort – set up Shaun Kenny-Dowall – who is in a surprisingly good run of form – to score in the corner. Todd Carney slotted the sideline conversion to extend the Roosters’ lead to four points.
From there, the game developed into an arm wrestle. Canberra continued to dominate field position – the Roosters were forced to defend 66 tackles within their own 20 metre line – but never really threatened. The Raiders lacked any direction from the halves, with Terry Campese looking out of place in the number seven shirt. In contrast, Carney expertly controlled proceedings and by the time Jake Friend scooped up a loose ball to stretch the advantage to 10 points with 12 minutes left, the game was all wrapped up (fortunately, there was no repeat of the last minute meltdown in Christchurch a week earlier).
This was a contest fought out between two committed, if not terribly talented, football teams. It is pleasing that this is the third match in a row where the players have turned up and tried hard, which gives hope that they might be able to snap this win-loss streak. The errors that have plagued previous matches are slowly being phased out, the scrambling defence is improving rapidly, and players like Perrett and Anthony Minichiello are finally finding some form. Although this was a gritty performance, it bodes well for the run home to the finals.
Brian Smith now turns his attention to the meeting with South Sydney next Friday night at the SFS. As if the local derby needed any more spice, it will see the Roosters return home for the first time in five weeks knowing that a win against their traditional rivals would consolidate a place in the top eight ahead of the Rabbitohs. With Mitchell Pearce and Nate Myles returning from Origin, this might finally be the week that the Roosters buck the win-loss trend.
