Brakes on Blayke: Why Roosters must stop Sharks No.9
Scott Bailey |
Trent Robinson has told Sydney Roosters players to put the brakes on Blayke Brailey, with stopping the Cronulla hooker a key objective for the elimination final.
Brailey will enter Saturday night’s do-or-die clash at Shark Park as the form hooker of the NRL, after a breakout season that has easily been his best in first grade.
The 26-year-old’s finest night of 2025 arguably came against the Roosters back in July, when he ran out of dummy-half in the lead up to two Sharks tries.
Brailey’s threat has been three-fold for the Sharks this year.
No hooker has run more times in 2025, or set up as many tries as the recently re-signed Brailey’s 14.
Getting Cronulla on the front foot aside, his running also acts to straighten up the Sharks attack and allows front-rowers to get outside defenders close to the line.
“Obviously the ruck speed that they’ve been able to create and the subtleties that he plays with, he’s one of the best hookers in the game,” Robinson said.
“He’s proven that this year. We need to make sure that we’re on our game when it comes to his dummy-half play.
“He’s been one of the reasons that they’ve stepped forward again this year. It’s a key target for us there as well (to shut him down).”
Key to it all for the Roosters will be winning the ruck and slowing down the Sharks’ play the ball.
“It’s on us middles,” prop Lindsay Collins said.
“Slowing him down is really going to impact how they play. They have some big bodies there that roll really well off him.
“It’s about quicks rucks, square markers, spacing, line speed. All those effort areas are always in our control.
“If we slow him down, we slow those big boys down. So that’s important.”
The Sharks are also well aware of the importance of Brailey’s running, with Cronulla winning nine of the 10 matches Brailey has gone 50 metres or more this year.
“We’ve got to get fast play the balls,” prop Addin Fonua-Blake said.
“That’s a very important thing for us heading into this week and most weeks.
“We’re always having conversations with the coaches about unlocking Brails and giving him time with the ball.
“You won’t get a rap on any stat sheet, but if Brails is running 100 metres you know the person playing the ball for him is working really hard.
“And if you find yourself outside him, sometimes all you have to do is catch it and put the ball down.”
Brailey this week described the round-20 win over the Roosters as the one that kickstarted both his and Cronulla’s big run to the finals.
And he wants no different on Saturday.
“I just needed to run,” Cronulla’s stand-in captain said.
“I was probably passing too much, we were going too sideways and Fitzy (coach Craig Fitzgibbon) is always into me about running.
“I was in a good flow at that moment and was seeing the game really clearly. I still am, so hopefully I can bring that Saturday.”
AAP
