Roosters amble past Bulldogs as Keary stars on return
Roosters 30 Bulldogs 12
Excuse the latte being spat out on the pages of every paper carried by an eastern suburbs cafe this week, but were we really talking about the Roosters being under the pump after one loss? Just one loss?
Dumped as premiership favourites after a last-minute defeat to the Tigers, struggling to strike combinations, a forward pack as fragile as your grandmother's china, a coach who just needs to win, a chairman who can't find his successor ... hold that latte, they say.
Luke Keary cops an accidental finger in the eye from Bulldog Josh Jackson.
Photo: AAPThey won't be premiership favourites after this weekend. Might not be premiership favourites for a while yet. But it was a little glimpse of when the Roosters are only partially right, not many others will stay with them.
Importantly, Cooper Cronk and James Tedesco had a coming-out party a week later than expected. Luke Keary shrugged off his own headaches and instead had his opponents calling for the Panadol. A sober Blake Ferguson came off the back fence all night. And Latrell Mitchell reminded everyone why he's the scariest prospect in the game.
That was all they needed, scratching past a brave Bulldogs 30-12 at Allianz Stadium on Friday night.
Importantly, it came with as much starch as style. Daniel Tupou tore his pectoral and Mitchell Aubusson didn't return after a gruesome head cut as a result of friendly fire from co-captain Jake Friend which left him sporting 12 stitches in the sheds. Isaac Liu also spent 10 minutes in the sin bin.
Still they were never going to lose, blasting to an 18-point lead at half-time before a brief Bulldogs rally in the second half. It was the same fight Dean Pay's men showed against premiers Melbourne in Perth last week, but they're a fair way from would-be premiership pacesetters such as Cronk's old and new clubs.
It might be not quite as daunting next week for the Bulldogs, but it's not much easier with Penrith on the horizon. Even allowing for the rejuvenated Moses Mbye at fullback, it might be a while before Pay can toast that first win as an NRL head coach.
If the Bulldogs had an early reprieve when a Mitchell-Tupou tandem near length-of-the-field effort went amiss at the last pass, Pay would have wanted to look away 10 minutes later.
Tedesco picked up a loose ball on his own try line and then then sent Keary on a 70-metre dash to open the scoring before Ferguson benefited from another loose ball.
Mitchell's penalty goal padded the margin to 12 points even during Liu's sin binning, the pain only piled on when a fired-up Dylan Napa steamrolled Josh Jackson (after which he needed a concussion test) to help set up Tedesco's first try in red, white and blue the following play.
If that was a sight to behold for Roosters fans, Tedesco slicing through the club which chased him so doggedly and then setting up Cronk for his first try in new colours was even better. It came just after Matt Frawley's break to set up Josh Morris had given the Bulldogs a lifeline.
Jackson found his wares to return to the field and score midway through the second half, but it just spurred the Roosters into action again as Ryan Matterson put an exclamation point on the win.
The eastern suburbs set will raise a latte to that during the week.
Sydney Roosters 30 (Luke Keary, Blake Ferguson, James Tedesco, Cooper Cronk, Ryan Matterson tries; Latrell Mitchell 5 goals) defeated Canterbury Bulldogs 12 (Josh Morris, Josh Jackson tries; Moses Mbye 2 goals) at Allianz Stadium. Referees: Gerard Sutton, Chris Butler. Crowd: 12,226.