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JAMIE PANDARAM
August 9, 2010
FIVE wins in succession then an abrupt halt to the charge of the NRL's form team, yet Roosters players were last night crowing about this being the medicine they need to successfully attack the finals.
''It was like a group 1 race, we've been playing a couple of group 2s lately,'' prop Jason Ryles said. ''I think 15 or 20 weeks ago they would [have] put 40 points on us. We're a work in progress, and hopefully we can keep improving and make better decisions when we're under the pump.''
They've had it their own way of late, but the Roosters will use the 19-12 loss to St George Illawarra as their marker for the rest of the season.
With each team they face in the final four regular round games - Cronulla, Gold Coast, Manly and North Queensland - there will be a back-of-mind note of how effective and ruthless their execution must be if they are to face the Dragons again in the finals.
''I'm sure they'll be in the semis; their defence is the best in the comp,'' halfback Mitchell Pearce said. ''You don't like losing but we're not getting too down about it. We're still in a good place at the moment, we're going well, everyone's confident. We still went out there to play our style.
''Pushing those passes at crucial times is something we shouldn't have done, but it's a credit to their defence. Say we had played the Tigers or Parramatta today, you would have seen a heap more tries, but that's the way the Dragons play, and they defend well.
''We'll learn from it. The last couple of weeks [the passes have] been sticking, but in those tighter games it is about completion; you need to think a few plays ahead.''
Fullback Anthony Minichiello said: ''When you get down to playing in the finals these are the type of games we'll be playing. We experienced one today; it's good for the team to experience that. We've got to pick ourselves up because the Sharks, the last time we played them, it was a similar game to that. They tried to rush us and get in our face in defence; we're expecting a tough game on Friday night.''
The previous time the Roosters met Cronulla, they were belted 42-18 at the Sydney Football Stadium. But they had lost only one more time since then - to the Warriors - before the Dragons rediscovered their dulled mojo yesterday.
In their previous three games, the Roosters had scored 118 points - an average of 39 - but yesterday were restricted to only two tries.
''A team like the Dragons suffocate you in defence. We'll learn when that happens again to adjust accordingly,'' Minichiello said.
''I think we just have to be a bit smarter with our options when we do make a half-break; we tried to throw the miracle ball a bit too much today, trying to get the try when we made a break when we could have played the ball and rolled it in for drop-out.''
Coach Brian Smith wasn't giving his players the hair-dryer sermon. ''I said to the guys just now, it was never going to be a turning point - if we won it - in our season,'' Smith said. ''Certainly, I hope it's not a turning point now that we've lost it. A little bit will depend on how we react to it.
''We built ourselves a little bit of a cushion, if it's possible to do that in the NRL, by winning five games in a row so it gave us the opportunity to treat it as a forerunner of what I think is likely to be what we'll play over the coming weeks.''
Centre Kane Linnett will be sidelined for an extended period with a medial ligament injury, and his replacement Joseph Leilua was also taken off with a nasty cork to his thigh but should be available for selection against Cronulla.
Leilua was ready to assume the starting centre role should Smith opt for him. ''If the ball falls my way I'll make the most of it,'' Leilua said..
The team are making all the right noises..
They know they left a few tries out there today..
They got a taste of finals intensity..
It could be the making of this side..
JAMIE PANDARAM
August 9, 2010
FIVE wins in succession then an abrupt halt to the charge of the NRL's form team, yet Roosters players were last night crowing about this being the medicine they need to successfully attack the finals.
''It was like a group 1 race, we've been playing a couple of group 2s lately,'' prop Jason Ryles said. ''I think 15 or 20 weeks ago they would [have] put 40 points on us. We're a work in progress, and hopefully we can keep improving and make better decisions when we're under the pump.''
They've had it their own way of late, but the Roosters will use the 19-12 loss to St George Illawarra as their marker for the rest of the season.
With each team they face in the final four regular round games - Cronulla, Gold Coast, Manly and North Queensland - there will be a back-of-mind note of how effective and ruthless their execution must be if they are to face the Dragons again in the finals.
''I'm sure they'll be in the semis; their defence is the best in the comp,'' halfback Mitchell Pearce said. ''You don't like losing but we're not getting too down about it. We're still in a good place at the moment, we're going well, everyone's confident. We still went out there to play our style.
''Pushing those passes at crucial times is something we shouldn't have done, but it's a credit to their defence. Say we had played the Tigers or Parramatta today, you would have seen a heap more tries, but that's the way the Dragons play, and they defend well.
''We'll learn from it. The last couple of weeks [the passes have] been sticking, but in those tighter games it is about completion; you need to think a few plays ahead.''
Fullback Anthony Minichiello said: ''When you get down to playing in the finals these are the type of games we'll be playing. We experienced one today; it's good for the team to experience that. We've got to pick ourselves up because the Sharks, the last time we played them, it was a similar game to that. They tried to rush us and get in our face in defence; we're expecting a tough game on Friday night.''
The previous time the Roosters met Cronulla, they were belted 42-18 at the Sydney Football Stadium. But they had lost only one more time since then - to the Warriors - before the Dragons rediscovered their dulled mojo yesterday.
In their previous three games, the Roosters had scored 118 points - an average of 39 - but yesterday were restricted to only two tries.
''A team like the Dragons suffocate you in defence. We'll learn when that happens again to adjust accordingly,'' Minichiello said.
''I think we just have to be a bit smarter with our options when we do make a half-break; we tried to throw the miracle ball a bit too much today, trying to get the try when we made a break when we could have played the ball and rolled it in for drop-out.''
Coach Brian Smith wasn't giving his players the hair-dryer sermon. ''I said to the guys just now, it was never going to be a turning point - if we won it - in our season,'' Smith said. ''Certainly, I hope it's not a turning point now that we've lost it. A little bit will depend on how we react to it.
''We built ourselves a little bit of a cushion, if it's possible to do that in the NRL, by winning five games in a row so it gave us the opportunity to treat it as a forerunner of what I think is likely to be what we'll play over the coming weeks.''
Centre Kane Linnett will be sidelined for an extended period with a medial ligament injury, and his replacement Joseph Leilua was also taken off with a nasty cork to his thigh but should be available for selection against Cronulla.
Leilua was ready to assume the starting centre role should Smith opt for him. ''If the ball falls my way I'll make the most of it,'' Leilua said..
The team are making all the right noises..
They know they left a few tries out there today..
They got a taste of finals intensity..
It could be the making of this side..
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