We could certainly improve our discipline but we are far from the worst in giving away penalties since 2013. The reason for our lopsided penalty count since then is the lack of penalties received. Robbo needs to speak to the other coaches to understand what their secret is in improving their discipline when playing us. They all seem to miraculously give away a lot less penalties when playing us.
Oh that's an easy one - no-one likes the Roosters. ;-)
In all seriousness it would be multiple things:
- Teams lifting when playing (admitting through gritted teeth) one of the best 2 sides of the decade. This would account for a lack of your opponents conceding some of the sloppier penalties (kicking out on full, offside in attack, etc).
- Roosters attacking style. As mentioned previously, you slow the ruck against Souths you'll win more than you lose. It's worth the risk of conceding a few penalties and this lack of potency against slow rucks is the main the reason we haven't won another comp or even made a GF since 2014. With Penrith, they play up-tempo and again, you need to break their rhythm. This is not the case with the Roosters where you need to get back onside quickly to stop your edge players running amok. Admittedly this is not a solely Roosters trait but it does explain some of it.
- Win the ruck, con the ref. Refs are human and can be conned like anyone. Hold the back of the neck, flop around like a fish out of water, do the "Y" in the YMCA at dummy half every time the ruck is slightly slow, stay down if hit neck or higher. This is a sh*t go and it might be an admirable stance (like Bennett's somewhat flawed "no wrestling" mantra), but it does get you penalties.
There's probably more but there would be reasons other than "these incompetent refs are systematically cheating us".