Rugby league legend Laurie Daley has grave “concerns” for the Roosters after a shock loss to Wayne Bennett’s NRL newcomers, the Dolphins.
Trent Robinson’s aspect had been dominated by the seventeenth franchise, taking place 28-18 after months of heavy scrutiny relating to the Dolphins’ recruitment and failure to land a marquee participant.
Daley went so far as saying it was the Roosters who seemed like a staff who hadn’t performed an NRL recreation, whereas Bennett’s aspect had been enjoying as if that they had “been around for ten years”.
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“There’s a little concern I have with the Roosters, I have got them winning the comp and I’m not going to change after one week,” Daley mentioned on the Big Sports Breakfast.
“But that game in the semi final last year when they lost their way, that wasn’t a Roosters-like performance under Trent Robinson and yesterday was the same.
“So their last two meaningful games, they just haven’t been the Roosters we have come to expect. Where are this Roosters club at?”
“I’ve never seen the Roosters make so many mistakes, even guys like James Tedesco, who I love, made that poor error made the ball.
“They looked out on their feet… it looked like the Roosters had just put a team together and the Dolphins had been around for ten years.”
Last season, the Roosters had solely recorded one win within the first three rounds and had been enjoying catch-up to complete within the high 4 for a lot of the yr.
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield believes Trent Robinson’s aspect have “a lot of problems” and losses in video games they need to win on paper might come again to hang-out them.
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“They went into this game as $1.11 favourites, on paper they should have won clearly,” Rothfield mentioned.
“They had no Hargreaves, no Manu, but at the end of the day, they really had no excuses.
“It is interesting you and everyone else said it is only Round 1, when you get towards the back-end of the season, and this happened to the Roosters last year, they had to win eight from nine to make the top four.
“That’s when these losses become really costly, the games you are supposed to win are required wins to be there at the business end of the season.
“They are a great football club, but I think they have a lot of problems. For starters they have Matt Lodge facing surgery for a fracture in his face, hopefully they will get Joey Manu back and Hargreaves but they’ve got a lot of work to do.
“It’s very unlike them not turning up for a game of football and they were out-enthused yesterday by a hungrier outfit. You put Lodge, Radley, Collins, Brandon Smith, they are huge names and tough players.
“I couldn’t believe the way they were destroyed, they weren’t just beaten on the scoreboard, they were beaten in aggression.”
While the Roosters performed poorly, the Dolphins had been glorious of their NRL debut, spearheaded by the skilled Felise Kaufusi.
The former Storm backrower was damaging in defence and was flanked by a number of sturdy performances from the likes of Jeremy Marshall-King and Sean O’Sullivan.
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“They were outstanding and they turned up for more aggressive, far hungrier than the Roosters,” Rothfield mentioned.
“Their defence was so strong and the errors they were forcing, it gave the Roosters only 37 per cent of territory, that’s quite a remarkable difference in a game of rugby league.
“That Felise Kaufusi’s defence yesterday was as punishing as I have seen for a long time. His game yesterday, he kept bending Roosters players in half, he was outstanding and deserved the Arthur Beetson Medal.
“Jeremy Marshall-King, in Round 1 give him three points for buy of the year, he was just terrific and I think Sean O’Sullivan, he’s now got his own football team to be in charge of.
“I thought he was terrific the way he steered them around the park, there was nothing fluky about that Dolphins side, they were easily the best team.
“It’s just a huge thing for the NRL, for Wayne Bennett and for a group of players who turned up yesterday and put on a great show.
“What I noticed yesterday, and It’s an old saying, a champion team will always beat a team of champions, that’s what we saw yesterday.”
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