I want to get my thoughts on the Roosters down whilst the game is still fresh in my mind (just finished watching)
Since 2004 I have been highly critical of the Roosters in four areas of the game.
Ball control / handling / errors.
Since our Grand Final against the Dogs our ball security has been at best medicore and mostly f**king laughable. The Roosters love to push passes that arent there and as such spend alot of time looking at one another as if to say "you werent supposed to drop that you f**king twat". Now I know one game does not a season make, but that was the best I have seen a Roosters team play in terms of control in a long, long time. They only looked to pass when a pass was on and didnt just throw the ball at advancing players in the vague hope that they might catch it, based on a one in a million thought that someone might throw a pass.
Penalties conceded.
Again this is a Roosters special. Over the past five years the mantra has been "If a player is on the ground, go to sleep on him" "if a player is being tackled put your hand on the ball" "if you're standing at marker face the crowd in the stands on the half way line" "If they have the ball encroach by 5 metres" etc etc etc. If there was a rule there to be broken, we sure as sh*t would be trying to break it. As such we gave away more stupid lazy penalties than any other side. Today however, we seem to have cleaned most of that up. Again early, early days - but not giving away twenty penalties was a refreshing change.
Marker defence and closing down the bloke with the ball.
For the past three years our marker defence has been appalling. In every set of six we defending you could almost guarantee that the opposition would stroll through without a hand being put on them. If a break was made out wide our players would be ambling around pointing fingers at their team mates whilst sitting down for a pie, a pint and a ciggie - but today it was different. Players at marker were switched on - they closed the opposition down and gave them very little time in possession. Then if a break was made there wasnt one bloke running to cover, there were two or three and there were players communicating and backing each other so Souths were faced with one person after another after another. At one point in the game I saw in the Roosters what I saw in the Dragons when they played us last Anzac Day. On that day we had a tonne of chances at the line, but the Dragons backed each other and repelled us time after time after time. It wasnt that we werent trying (as Souths were trying today) it's just the defenders did what they were supposed to do. As a Roosters fan, that gave me as much pleasure as anything else I saw.
Hunger for the ball in attack.
For the past five years, when we've had the ball, we havent wanted it. Even in 2008 when we came fourth, we relied more on tricky set plays and party pieces than we did on actually out playing and out enthusing the opposition. Then, it was run arounds and reverse plays that won games, today it was just sheer hunger. I'm not sure what Brian Smith told them but the Roosters were actually pushing each other out of the way to get to the play the ball and when they did it their team mates knew exactly what was on. The communication levels were high and there wasnt a bloke out there that didnt want to get involved. Carney was magnificient but Mini, Perrett, SKD, Pearce, Aubs etc all wanted in as did the forwards. It was very pleasing to see.
I dont want to harp on about this as I am more aware than anyone that one game doesnt mean alot in a season. Actually, if you dont turn up the week after it means f**k all. Especially when you play a team that under estimates you (yes, I am aware that we were only as good as Souths allowed us to be) - but it was nice to see that all the areas where the Roosters have been so poor for so long look to have been if not addressed then considered. Yes it's a work in progress and no I'm not predicting Premiership glory, in fact I'm sticking to my prediction of mid table mediocrity, but for once it was good to see a game where my team actually played well. As a fan, that's all I ask for. I dont care about the absolute of victory. Yes I love winning, but more than that, I want effort and a well played game. Today I got it. Today was good. Tomorrow? That's another story. We have a long, long, long, long, long way to go.
