Cronk and Keary write their own script as Roosters thump Knights
Sydney Roosters halves Cooper Cronk and Luke Keary have inspired a scintillating 38-8 win over Newcastle and completely spoiled Mitchell Pearce’s night against his former club.
Night spoiled: Mitchell Pearce directs play against his former club.
The narrative of the round – Pearce, the unwanted No.7, versus Cronk, the Storm poster boy moving north – was on everybody’s lips at Allianz Stadium. The clash was close in the early exchanges before the Roosters blew the Knights off the park in a seven tries to one rout.
Remarkably, Cronk and Keary played a hand in every single Roosters try, while Blake Ferguson scored two of his own.
“I thought he [Cronk] went really well,” said Roosters coach Trent Robinson. “I thought he controlled our team really well.
“It’s the amount of time they spend together. They’re getting along really well off the field, they spend a lot of time talking about it. It’s coming along well. They compliment each other really well.”
Newcastle spurned their chance to join the Warriors and Dragons as the only undefeated teams this season and will finish round three sitting sixth on the ladder.
“It was a bit of a strange feeling when I rocked up today,” Pearce said. “They were way too powerful tonight, the Roosters. We were on the back foot most of the night and we made a lot of errors coming out of the back-field. It’s a bit of a step back tonight but we’re a building side and we’ll get ready for next weekend. We’ve got plenty of lessons to come out of the night.”
There was some minor booing when Pearce led his troops onto the ground but it didn’t last long, probably because deep down there is a mountain of respect for the man who chalked up 238 games for the tri-colours.
With the score at 12-8 and the game on a knife-edge, Keary stepped up with two outstanding plays to set up victory for his side in the first half.
The 26-year-old scored a try of his own in the 35th minute after backing himself near the line, before throwing a pass that might go down as the assist of the season.
Keary re-gathered a chip over the top from Cronk before orchestrating a one-handed, out-the-back pass to Victor Radley who dived over.
It was a moment that brought an Allianz Stadium crowd of 15,153 to their feet.
A half-time rev-up from Newcastle coach Nathan Brown wouldn’t have mattered as the Roosters piled on another two tries – courtesy of Ferguson and Cronk – in the 15 minutes after half-time.
“It looks like we were absolutely terrible but where we were bad in the game was just some small effort areas,” Brown said. “If there was a ball on the ground, they got it. If they knocked it back from a kick, they got it. If it bounced off the legs, they got it.
“With the players they’ve got we can’t afford to be letting them be better in those areas. Things fell their way and they deserved to get a good win.”
Cronk’s grubber and re-gather in the 55th minute typified how much he had the ball on a string in a performance that announced his arrival in the eastern suburbs.
There was also Cronk’s perfectly weighted kick to Ferguson on the wing for the Roosters’ seventh try that was pure class.
“It was good to see glimpses of it tonight in a game,” said Roosters captain Jake Friend. “Those boys were great.”
Meanwhile, Brown confirmed five-eighth Connor Watson would require shoulder surgery after injuring himself in the first half.
“He’s not looking real good,” Brown said. “At this stage they’re thinking a shoulder op[eration] is going to have to happen, which will be at least a 12-week injury.”
Earlier, Ferguson was pinged for an incorrect play-the-ball in the opening exchange but Newcastle’s Kalyn Ponga was unable to take the two points on offer right in front of the sticks.
Some astute vision shortly after from Cronk and Keary helped set up Latrell Mitchell for the first points of the evening in the seventh minute.
Cronk shifted the play from right to left before Keary put Mitchell through a big gap to ultimately set up a six-point buffer.
Then the rain came. This wasn’t drizzle – it was torrential downpour during a 20-minute period in the first half which made handling difficult and tough carries imperative.
Pearce’s kicking was wayward throughout the match and he lacked the spark of his opposite No.7.
The Knights booted a penalty to go 6-2 behind but it was the home side that inflicted damage at the other end thanks to Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. There was some debate as to whether Roosters players were onside from a Cronk bomb, but replays confirmed everything was good as gold.
Just as the Roosters looked to be streaking away, Pearce reminded his old club he wasn’t going away. His kick in behind the line was snaffled up by another former Chook in Aidan Guerra, who dived over for a four-pointer.
But the man of the evening, Keary, ensured the result was put beyond doubt by half-time with two brilliant glimpses of individual brilliance.
A long-range effort from Ferguson, which started on the Roosters’ try line, was a dagger in the heart for Newcastle who just couldn’t convert possession into points as Trent Robinson’s men continued their onslaught during the second half.