Roosters put NRL on notice by stunning Bulldogs
Jasper Bruce |
The Sydney Roosters have put the NRL on notice as enforcer Naufahu Whyte inspired a stunning 32-12 victory over Canterbury that looms as the most important win yet in their top-eight quest.
Friday night’s victory at Allianz Stadium lifts the Roosters to eighth place amid the battle for the remaining finals spots, though their fate remains in the balance with three games to go.
But claiming their biggest scalp of the season in the third-placed Bulldogs, the Roosters proved they’ll be capable of some serious damage should they get past the Dolphins, Manly and Wests Tigers and into finals.
Amid the carnage, Daniel Tupou bagged three tries to move past Steve Menzies into fourth on the all-time try-scoring stakes with 182 four-pointers for his career.
After a mass exodus over the off-season, the new-look Roosters appear to be finding their rhythm at just the right time, having won their past three games by a combined total of 116-28.
“You can all talk about it in the pre-season and decide on what your style is but you’ve got to play it and live it a bit more. We had to rediscover that,” said coach Trent Robinson.
“We’ve been taking our time to do that over the course of the season.
“We’ve been talking about it and we’ve decided on how we want to play and we’re going about playing that at the moment.”
Roosters prop Whyte, among the NRL’s major improvers this year, led the charge and had two tries – as many as he’d scored across 52 NRL games before Friday.
His side up by only two points, Whyte grabbed an Angus Crichton offload after it bounced away from Canterbury’s Josh Curran and dived over just before halftime.
Whyte punished Bulldogs fullback Connor Tracey for dropping Hugo Savala’s bomb, bullocking past four defenders to make it a three-score game just after the break.
It continued a brilliant year for Whyte, who has excelled with the unenviable task of replacing Jared Waerea-Hargreaves as the Roosters’ forward pack leader.
“He’s been really impressive,” said Robinson.
The game was never again close after Whyte’s feats, with Tupou scoring a second try from a Sam Walker cross-field kick to put the Roosters on track with 25 minutes left.
He had his third in the final minutes.
The Bulldogs’ loss puts a sizeable dent in their top-two hopes. Beating Melbourne at AAMI Park next week now appears non-negotiable if they are to finish higher than third.
A top-four finish remains likely, given Cameron Ciraldo’s side need only one more win across the final three weeks to confirm a double chance in finals.
But the Bulldogs have now lost two of their past three games, both to sides outside the top eight.
“The last four games, we’ve had two of our best performances and two of our worst for the season. I’m not happy about that,” said a frustrated Ciraldo.
“You just can’t go be a team that goes good performance, poor performance.”
The Roosters may need to contend without Billy Smith as they fight to shore up their top-eight spot, after his ugly cannonball tackle on Sam Hughes in the first half.
Hughes later went on report for a high shot on Smith in the second half.
AAP
