2025 NSW Cup Thread

[Rooster_6]

According to the NSWRL website we had an 18th man activation that means we had two players leave the field for a HIA doesn't it?

Toia went off for a HIA but Makatoa replaced him and there was no foul play in the incident so wouldn't have triggered an 18th man.

Vito Tevaga who was 18th man definitely never got on the field. Assuming it's an error.

[milanja]

Round 4 Canberra Raiders Vs Sydney Roosters

Sydney Roosters 34 defeat Canberra Raiders 26

Match Review:
As opposed to recent weeks it was a good quality contest. Losalu, Savala, Makatoa & Warwick all back for the Roosters and all had a noticeable impact on the game. Was good wet weather footy and both sides respected the conditions so was played in tight between the scrum lines, lots of good hits. Raiders jumped out to a 12-0 lead but we did a really good job to fight back to 18-12 then cop a try just before halftime to go in ahead 18-16. Then second half we were really in control for most of the game and didn’t really look in doubt. Defensivley much better, controlled field position well through strong running performances from King & Losalu and a good kicking game from Savala.

1.Ethan King – Just again the energizer bunny. Really seems to be basing his game around the style of Tracey/Edwards where he’s taking an early set carry and then taking the last carry of the set to set up for the kick. Threw a nice pass for a half break early on, scored the first try, had a 1 on 1 try saver, ran the ball more than any other player in the game and was everywhere in attack. Has a silly error in him every game but given the workload he gets through you’ve kind of just got to accept it. 7.5/10

2. Tom Rodwell – Really busy in yardage coming out of our own end as usual, but was a real tough slog on the heavy track so seemed to be a little less effective. Scored two tries, one simple catch off a beautiful spiral from Elliott and the other a really nice modern day wingers finish, legs and torso up in the air, one handed put down centimetres in from the touchline. 7/10

3. Billy Smith – Didn’t have as many big moments in this game as he has had in previous weeks but I thought it was his most well rounded game. No silly offloads or errors, strong in defence, got to the ball well on a grubber for his 1 try and carried well. 7/10

4.Ben Johnson – Looked more assured in defence this week but didn’t do much to stand out other than a couple of decent runs from his own end. Score a simple try where we just stripped them for numbers 5/10

5.Tyreece Tait – Had some nice moments this week but again some really poor moments as well, he’s struggling to compete on bomb defusals, got outmuscled on a few of his carries and had a really bad read on the Raiders 3^rd try where he had jammed in so far he took out his own centre. On the plus side we saw a glimpse of his speed and beautiful movement as he made a half break running around the Raiders team. 4/10

6. Jake Elliot – Started off at dummy half for the first 20-25 minutes of the game but then slipped back into 5/8 so I will base his game off the work he did at 5/8 because he got steam rolled in the first 5 mins for the Raiders opening try by one of their big props but to be fair not his position. I thought he had a decent game at 5/8, ran some good shapes with Savala, was busy, kicking game was below par but thew a nice pass to the set up the 4^th try and then threw one of the nicest spiral cutouts you’ll see this year for the 5^th try. Also scored a try early where he supported and offload and dived over the line. 6.5/10

7. Hugo Savala – Thought he was great, on the back of a half break and some momentum he went back at the ruck to set up the first try of the game which is something I would’ve loved to have seen our halves do in the Titans game on the back of all our breaks instead of constantly spreading it wide. Set up the 3^rd try with a nice kick for Billy Smith. Generally organised the side well, our structure looked good, his general play kicking was strong with a beautiful kick from his own 20 when we were on the back foot that had the Raiders fullback picking it up from his own in goal to be tackled 10m out. Did a lot of good work for his second receivers digging into the line to buy them some extra time and I like how direct he kept the attack. 7.5/10

8. Taylor Losalu – Absolute machine, was strong on all his carries constantly back good post contact metres, his right shoulder was hot all game. There was one carry towards the end of the game where he picks it up at the halfway line and just rolls 35 metres down the field to play the ball on the Raiders 15m line, no linebreak just steam rolling Raiders defenders (I hope it makes the weekly highlights pack). Played good minutes too, would’ve been close to 55-60 minutes at a guess. 8.5/10

9. Owen Flaherty – Technically the starting 5/8 for the first 20mins but I move Jake Elliott so I’ll have to score him here. Obviously there just to buy time in the opening. Didn’t do anything wrong. Score not applicable.

10. Makahesi Makatoa – Mixed game for him with 2 silly offloads that resulted in turnovers but also threw a beautiful offlaod with 5 defenders on top of him to set up the 2^nd try of the game. Carried well and was good in defence, his movement in defence and workrate is very good. Really helped sure up the middle today. 6.5/10

11. Hayden Barton – Looked better on an edge today, made a nice half break early of an Ethan King pass, tasted Canberra ribs about 10 times throughout the game, he’s got a lovely tackling technique and had some good carries whilst still getting dominated on a few carries but it was that time of game in wet weather. 6/10

12. Aston Warwick – Thought he was really solid out on the right edge, new signing so seems to be finding his feet a bit with combos but defended really strongly and had some really nice carries. Seems to have some nice footwork and a decent work ethic, really interested to see how he develops this season. 6.5/10

13. Max McCathie – Another tradesman like performance, in and around everything without much fanfare. I thought he and Makatoa in the middle made a tremendous difference to our defence, he still is struggling to get dominance in his carries but an important clog to the team. 7/10

14. Kyron Fekitoa – Actually really surprised me, got through 60minutes at hooker and had some really nice scoots which you would expect from a centre but it was some of his defensive work especially on the goal line that really impressed me and his service was actually pretty decent. Sure, he wasn’t passing spirals from the ground but he was hitting his marks on pretty much every occasion. I’m not sure the plan was to put him on in the 20^th min and play out the full 80 but the fact he held the position down which allowed Elliott to go back to 5/8 was definitely a big reason in why we won so.. 7/10

15. Akahola Toia – Came of the bench, some good powerful carries, decent in defence, copped a head knock early in the 2^nd half and wasn’t seen again. 5/10

16. Ethan Roberts – Similar to previous works, love his work in defence, has good movement in attack but just does not seem to be able to win the contact on his yardage carries, also made a silly fundamental error early in the 2^nd half. I really hope he finds some form because he has definitely got the temperament for it. 4/10

17. Rhys Dakin – Not used in the first half, came on around 50^th minute mark and played out the rest of the game. Did ok, had some good carries, made his tackles, didn’t let anyone down 5.5/10

Great write up 6, much appreciated, that’s a lot of time and effort.

[Rooster90]

Wasn’t that the winger, Tom?

yeah sorry, i read it wrong

[Cooko]

Is Billy Smith knocking on the door for first grade? Toia really hasn't done too much since the line break in round 1 and maybe we need experience where we can get it.

[Barron's Dream]

I'd like Toia to have a rest. Billy to left centre and Mark to the right.

[Chook2]

Great write up 6, much appreciated, that’s a lot of time and effort.

Great for Billy smith
only 2nd 80 min game and 3rd game back / will there be some pressure on toia? Interesting to see if they leave him in nsw cup for longer for more match fitness
who else can step up? Good to see savala was good, also lasalu - they may need lasalu in nrl this week and bring Foketi or steep back to nsw cup for size

[Superdag]

Is Billy Smith knocking on the door for first grade? Toia really hasn't done too much since the line break in round 1 and maybe we need experience where we can get it.

I think its time for Billy to step up to first again

[Rooster_6]

Is Billy Smith knocking on the door for first grade? Toia really hasn't done too much since the line break in round 1 and maybe we need experience where we can get it.

Don’t think it matters too much who you put at right centre at the moment, they’re not going to see any ball. I don’t think Toia has been bad the last two weeks by any means.

[A Country Member]

The selections I found most interesting were:

• 5/8 Jake Elliott starting at hooker for the first 20 mins before reverting to his regular 5/8 for the remainder of the game
• Owen Flaherty, normally a fullback, starting at 5/8
• Kyron Fekitoa, normally a centre, relieving Elliott at hooker for the remaining 60 minutes
• The guys with recent first grade experience, playing accordingly. Especially Savala who whilst sparingly played on Friday night, backed up and got the result for the team the next day.

[Rooster_6]

Fanafou Seve had a mixed game in Jersey Flegg, saw a lot more minutes, would've played close to 50-55 minutes and didn't show any signs of fatigue.

Had some good carries, they just couldn't take him to the ground.

Had a few errors, one for a ball roll, one just lost the ball clean as he was trying to wrestle for a quick play the ball and the other was a bad pass that he and no right catching.

Scored a try to get us within 6points late where he just steam rolled 5 defenders under the posts.

Pulled off a few big hits, I was really hoping to see how he would handle some defensive workload given he was starting this week but the Raiders players were avoiding him. Everyone was finding a right or left foot step when in his vicinity. To be fair I don't blame them.

And then he got sin binned for one of the latest tackles off the ball you'll ever see... Don't think he's at risk of a suspension as there wasn't a heap of force in it but was ridiculously late.

[Rooster90]

Fanafou Seve had a mixed game in Jersey Flegg, saw a lot more minutes, would've played close to 50-55 minutes and didn't show any signs of fatigue.

Had some good carries, they just couldn't take him to the ground.

Had a few errors, one for a ball roll, one just lost the ball clean as he was trying to wrestle for a quick play the ball and the other was a bad pass that he and no right catching.

Scored a try to get us within 6points late where he just steam rolled 5 defenders under the posts.

Pulled off a few big hits, I was really hoping to see how he would handle some defensive workload given he was starting this week but the Raiders players were avoiding him. Everyone was finding a right or left foot step when in his vicinity. To be fair I don't blame them.

And then he got sin binned for one of the latest tackles off the ball you'll ever see... Don't think he's at risk of a suspension as there wasn't a heap of force in it but was ridiculously late.

Saw a video of that hit and just laughed....has been named to start this week

[SamKerrSimp]

I thought the NRL draw was bad but the NSW cup draw is an absolute stinker we are currently playing 5 straight away games and then later in the year play 3 straight away games and we finish the season playing 11 home games to 13 away games how did this mess get approved?

[Rooster_6]

Round 10 Manly Sea Eagles Vs Sydney Roosters

Sydney Roosters 36 defeat Manly Sea Eagles 20

Good turn out in Tamworth for the NSWRL magic round. It was a real game of two halves, first 15 minutes or so was a really high quality back and forth contest then the Roosters started to give away some penalties, made some errors and the Sea Eagles put on some points scoring 3 tries in a 15minu period. We got one back with less than a minute on the clock before half time with Kyron Fekitoa just burning his centre for speed and then having enough strength to bump off the last ditch defenders to make it 14-6 to Manly heading into half time.

Second half we pretty much dominated from minute 40 to 80, scoring six tries to Manly's one. Ethan King went over first in the second half, nice left foot step and acceleration to get us back into it, then Chad Townsend and Ethan King combined to set up Ben Johnson where we stripped them for numbers, Max McCathie went over next after a linebreak down the right, followed by a kick that Manly couldn't defuse and McCathie pounced on, Dominic Young score a good try, having to take a cut out pass from Townsend that was almost a metre above his head (probably the only player on the field who could've reached it), then Max Mcathie score another try after a nice little chip kick from Elliott found Young, who passed in back on the inside to McCathie & last try Makatoa just barged over from close range in the dying seconds of the game.

Was great to see the kids swarm the field after the full time siren with What's my scene blaring over the speakers, lots of Roosters jerseys around and Dom Young was definitely the favourite getting swarmed for selfies and signatures.

Best on Ground

3 - Chad Townsend - His kicking game was brilliant all day, bombs were landing inside the 10 pretty much every time and even his long kicking game seemed to have some increased depth on it. He organised the team really well and played some role in helping set up 5 out of the 7 tries scored.

2 - Ethan King - Just super busy again, scored a great try himself to get us back in it at 14-12 but didn't put a foot wrong in his kick defusal, yardage carries as always were strong and he was a constant threat when we were attacking Manly's line. Also came up with a try assist for Ben Johnson's try. I would describe his style as probably most similar to Will Kennedy, he's got great acceleration, gets involved heavily in good ball sets and loves to take the last play carry in yardage before the last tackle to earn his side a quick play the ball. Will be interesting to see how he goes should Teddy get called up to SOO but great to see him in good form.

1 - Taylor Losalu - I thought he was the most dominant forward for us, consistently bending the line on every carry, worked hard in defence and played good minutes. Started with a 30min stint and then did a 20min stint in the second half. No doubt just building that endurance and getting minutes in the bank is what he needs to be doing to push for a first grade spot because his quality of work has never been an issue.

Other Thoughts
- Tom Rodwell strong and eager as ever to eat up as many metres as possible.
- Fair play to Dominic Young given everything that is going on he showed up and looked committed to the cause, was a very typical Dom Young performance with some moments of brilliance coupled with some cross field running and some rash errors.
- I liked what I saw from Xavier Va'a, got a 15min stint in the first half and then a 20min stint in the second half but he was very strong in defence, good movement and then had some really good carries especially in his second stint.
- Aston Warwick the second rower has impressed me every time I've seen him, not necessarily because of outstanding quality that he necessarily showed but just a very well rounded game and strong work ethic. He was part of the Panthers SG Ball side who beat us a few years back so I'm really interesting to see how he develops.
- I though Reece Foley played a big part in our second half come back, his service was excellent and he really started to get the ruck turning in our favour and helped build the momentum. Interested to see how he continues to develop in this role, he was a highly rated half who we signed from Nth Qld last year.

[Roosterfarian]

Great write up R6.

[Mickie Lane]

Round 10 Manly Sea Eagles Vs Sydney Roosters

Sydney Roosters 36 defeat Manly Sea Eagles 20

Good turn out in Tamworth for the NSWRL magic round. It was a real game of two halves, first 15 minutes or so was a really high quality back and forth contest then the Roosters started to give away some penalties, made some errors and the Sea Eagles put on some points scoring 3 tries in a 15minu period. We got one back with less than a minute on the clock before half time with Kyron Fekitoa just burning his centre for speed and then having enough strength to bump off the last ditch defenders to make it 14-6 to Manly heading into half time.

Second half we pretty much dominated from minute 40 to 80, scoring six tries to Manly's one. Ethan King went over first in the second half, nice left foot step and acceleration to get us back into it, then Chad Townsend and Ethan King combined to set up Ben Johnson where we stripped them for numbers, Max McCathie went over next after a linebreak down the right, followed by a kick that Manly couldn't defuse and McCathie pounced on, Dominic Young score a good try, having to take a cut out pass from Townsend that was almost a metre above his head (probably the only player on the field who could've reached it), then Max Mcathie score another try after a nice little chip kick from Elliott found Young, who passed in back on the inside to McCathie & last try Makatoa just barged over from close range in the dying seconds of the game.

Was great to see the kids swarm the field after the full time siren with What's my scene blaring over the speakers, lots of Roosters jerseys around and Dom Young was definitely the favourite getting swarmed for selfies and signatures.

Best on Ground

3 - Chad Townsend - His kicking game was brilliant all day, bombs were landing inside the 10 pretty much every time and even his long kicking game seemed to have some increased depth on it. He organised the team really well and played some role in helping set up 5 out of the 7 tries scored.

2 - Ethan King - Just super busy again, scored a great try himself to get us back in it at 14-12 but didn't put a foot wrong in his kick defusal, yardage carries as always were strong and he was a constant threat when we were attacking Manly's line. Also came up with a try assist for Ben Johnson's try. I would describe his style as probably most similar to Will Kennedy, he's got great acceleration, gets involved heavily in good ball sets and loves to take the last play carry in yardage before the last tackle to earn his side a quick play the ball. Will be interesting to see how he goes should Teddy get called up to SOO but great to see him in good form.

1 - Taylor Losalu - I thought he was the most dominant forward for us, consistently bending the line on every carry, worked hard in defence and played good minutes. Started with a 30min stint and then did a 20min stint in the second half. No doubt just building that endurance and getting minutes in the bank is what he needs to be doing to push for a first grade spot because his quality of work has never been an issue.

Other Thoughts
- Tom Rodwell strong and eager as ever to eat up as many metres as possible.
- Fair play to Dominic Young given everything that is going on he showed up and looked committed to the cause, was a very typical Dom Young performance with some moments of brilliance coupled with some cross field running and some rash errors.
- I liked what I saw from Xavier Va'a, got a 15min stint in the first half and then a 20min stint in the second half but he was very strong in defence, good movement and then had some really good carries especially in his second stint.
- Aston Warwick the second rower has impressed me every time I've seen him, not necessarily because of outstanding quality that he necessarily showed but just a very well rounded game and strong work ethic. He was part of the Panthers SG Ball side who beat us a few years back so I'm really interesting to see how he develops.
- I though Reece Foley played a big part in our second half come back, his service was excellent and he really started to get the ruck turning in our favour and helped build the momentum. Interested to see how he continues to develop in this role, he was a highly rated half who we signed from Nth Qld last year.

Did Ethan Roberts play?