Week 3 Finals Donkeys v Rooters

Donkeys V Rooters - FRI 25 SEPTEMBER, 7.55PM, SUNCORP STADIUM | BUY TICKETS


Donkeys
1 Darius Boyd
2 Corey Oates
3 Jack Reed
4 Justin Hodges (c)
5 Jordan Kahu
6 Anthony Milford
7 Ben Hunt
8 Sam Thaiday
9 Andrew McCullough
10 Adam Blair
11 Alex Glenn
12 Matt Gillett
13 Corey Parker

Interchange
14 Jarrod Wallace
15 Mitchell Dodds
16 Joe Ofahengaue
17 Kodi Nikorima

Coach: Wayne Bennett


Roosters
1 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
2 Daniel Tupou
3 Michael Jennings
4 Blake Ferguson
5 Shaun Kenny-Dowall
6 James Maloney
7 Mitchell Pearce (c)
8 Sam Moa
9 Jake Friend (c)
10 Dylan Napa
11 Mitchell Aubusson
12 Aidan Guerra
13 Boyd Cordner

Interchange
14 Jackson Hastings
15 Isaac Liu
16 Kane Evans
17 Sio Siua Taukeiaho

Coach: Trent Robinson

Why your Team will win the NRL Title

Three key reasons why your team should feel confident about winning the NRL grand final.

SYDNEY ROOSTERS

* Experience counts: Of the sides left in the competitions, the Roosters have the most finals experience with a collective 251 games. A big jump up from North Queensland (208), Melbourne (188) and Donkeys (182).

* Fire power: Trent Robinson's boys lead the league in points scored (24.5 per game), tried scored (4.2), linebreaks (5.6) and tackle busts (31.6).

* Roger Tuivasa-Sheck: The red-hot No.1 has run for an average of 215 metres this season (the next best being Paul Gallen with 196) for a total of 5589, an all-time competition record.

DONKEYS

* Discipline: Donkeys concede the least penalties (4.9 per game) and miss the fewest tackles (19.5).

* Ben Hunt: If there's one halfback who can hold a candle to Johnathan Thurston this year, it's Hunt. He's second in the league for try assists (25) and linebreak assists (29).

* Goal line defence: Donkeys boast the best record for defending their line. Opposition teams take an average of 19.4 tackles inside the Donkeys red-zone per try, the most of any team.

Hunt's mission to dodge Roger

Tony Webeck Fri 25 Sep, 2015, 10:00am
By Tony Webeck*, Chief Queensland Correspondent, NRL.com


Donkeys halfback Ben Hunt has spent much of the past two weeks working on the impossible: finding a way to take Roosters fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck out of the game.

On Thursday Donkeys coach Wayne Bennett praised the way his team had limited the impact Tuivasa-Sheck had in the Roosters' 12-10 victory over the Donkeys in Round 24 but the raw numbers show the most prolific runner in 2015 amassed 331 metres on that night alone.

In Round 6 Tuivasa-Sheck's output at Suncorp Stadium was an astonishing 288 metres from 29 runs and in 26 games thus far he has run for 6,255 metres (more than 2,000 more than next best Paul Gallen) at an average of 240 metres per game.

More than the metres he gains for his team as an individual, the effect of Tuivasa-Sheck's kick returns significantly reduce the distance his forwards have to trek back and generates momentum for the Roosters' sets from the very first tackle.


There has never been a game in Hunt's 138-game career to date where his kicking game has been more important to the outcome for his team, which is why so much time preparing for the Preliminary Final has been spent putting boot to ball.

"Plenty of tuning up on that this week," Hunt said of his kicking game.

"They've got one of the best back-threes in the competition. They can hurt you right across the board and we've just got to keep that ball away from them as much as possible.

"Kick to the grounds and have a good line coming down on the kick-chase.

"[Tuivasa-Sheck] is definitely up there with the top fullbacks. You try and get him away from where you're trying to kick but he's just too fast.

"If you don't put it on the right spot he's there really quick and catching it on the full and back into you. You've got to be right on top of it."

Bennett didn't shy away from the fact that Hunt's kicking game would be of extra significance on Friday night but backed his No.7 to execute in a way to give the kick-chase team a chance to limit Tuivasa-Sheck's influence.

"That will be important. You don't want to just keep putting them down his throat and coming onto the ball at full pace because he will take some metres off you," Bennett said.

"That's something we've got to do. Last time we played them we did it pretty well so pretty happy with that."

Over the course of the season the Roosters have averaged close to 100 more running metres than the Donkeys with outside backs such as Tuivasa-Sheck, Daniel Tupou, Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Blake Ferguson doing plenty of grunt work early in the tackle count.

The Donkeys have been guilty of giving up metres down the field before defending their goal-line but Hunt knows they can't afford to give the most potent attacking team in the competition head-starts to their sets.

"You get a good kick-chase down and they've got two big wingers coming at you and centres like Ferguson and [Michael] Jennings flying into you as well so your first two or three tackles you've really got to control that set so they don't get a roll on," Hunt said.

"The first two or three tackles, you've really got to control that area and if you can slow that down and get your line set and get up and get into their forwards it doesn't let them get some momentum going.

"If they get a quick play-the-ball on the first or second tackle their forwards come rolling onto the ball and you're on the back-peddle for the whole set.

"We've got to win those first couple."

Well that's half my game day experience at the GF farked.

Emphatic Donkeys charge into grand final

Fri 25 Sep, 2015, 9:55pm
By Matt Harris*, Queensland Correspondent, NRL.com


A rampant Donkeys have qualified for their seventh grand final after steamrolling the Roosters 31-12 in a frenetic preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.

Donkeys scored inside the opening minute via a Darius Boyd intercept and jumped out to a 16-0 lead after 20 minutes before the Roosters responded with two tries to Blake Ferguson.

The Donkeys crossed again on the stroke of half-time and added another two tries during the second stanza before Anthony Milford iced the 19-point victory with a 63rd-minute field goal.

The Roosters were their own worst enemy – making 11 errors and completing their sets at only 66 per cent – which didn’t help the visitors lower the volume inside Suncorp Stadium as the home crowd of 51,826 roared with every piece of positive play made by the Donkeys.

The Origin-like atmosphere suited Donkeys as they channelled the energy of their fans to lead 20-12 at half-time.

While the Donkeys thoroughly deserved their victory, the Roosters' chances of mounting a second-half comeback took a blow when Mitchell Pearce failed to return after succumbing to a knee injury.

The only sour note for the Donkeys came when skipper Justin Hodges was placed on report for a lifting tackle during the second half.

The Donkeys opened the scoring inside the first minute in extraordinary circumstances when Boyd latched onto a wayward Shaun Kenny-Dowell pass.

After receiving the ball from the kick-off the Donkeys lumbered up just short of the halfway line with Ben Hunt, who scored one try and laid on two try-assists, skewing his fifth-tackle kick towards Kenny-Dowell's wing.

Seemingly worried about getting pushed into touch by the onrushing defenders, the Roosters winger attempted a 20-metre cross-field pass to Tuivasa-Sheck only to have Boyd read the play and pluck the Steeden out of the air and race 22 metres untouched at the Milton Road end of Suncorp Stadium.

Corey Parker's conversion handed the Donkeys a 6-0 lead as the Donkeys faithful came to life with deafening noise.

A penalty on the fourth tackle allowed the visitors their first crack at Donkeys line but they were denied by some typically resolute defence from the hosts.

Just as it appeared the decibel level inside 'The Cauldron' couldn’t get any higher, the Donkeys added another four points in the 11th minute through Hunt.

Kicking on the last, Hunt placed a grubber behind the Roosters' goal-line with Tuivasa-Sheck dwelling on whether to swat the ball dead for too long allowing Donkeys winger Jordan Kahu to bat the ball back from over the touch in-goal.

Hunt was involved again for Donkeys third try as he combined with Milford to send Andrew McCullough over the line for a 16-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Hodges sent a scare through the Donkeys camp when he hit the turf in the 22nd minute with what appeared to be lower back injury.

The retiring centre left the field shortly afterwards but returned to the field prior to half-time.

The Roosters weren't prepared to go down without a fight and soon found their rhythm inside Donkeys half and responded with two quick-fire tries to Ferguson in the 23rd and 29th minute to take the score to 16-12.

Both of Ferguson's tries were reminiscent of each other as the powerful centre schooled opposite number Jack Reed to hand the visitors momentum heading towards the final 10 minutes of the half.

The frantic first half continued before the break as the Donkeys lifted another gear as a result of the Roosters' fightback.

However, with 15 seconds left on the clock, Hunt delivered a perfect ball which cut out two Roosters defenders to find Oates in the corner for a 20-12 Donkeys lead at half-time.

Down at the break, the Roosters jumped out of the blocks in empathic fashion during their first set and had claims for a try denied by the video referee.

Referee Gerard Sutton signalled for a try, but on closer inspection Ferguson was deemed to have lost the ball into Reed to deny Kenny-Dowell a four-pointer after he collected the crumbs from the aerial challenge.

It took the Donkeys eight minutes to respond and they did so via Milford who collected his own grubber kick to hand his side a 14-point lead after Jordan Kahu's conversion.

Donkeys nearly extended their lead in the 53rd minute when Corey Oates had claims for a try only for the replay to show the 20-year-old had placed his left boot on the touchline.

Moments later the Tricolours had a try of their own denied by the video referee, although the decision was correctly ruled no-try due to an Aidan Guerra knock-on.

The Roosters tried throwing the ball around inside their own half in a desperate search for points, but their enterprise led to an error and the Donkeys capitalised straight away with a try to Reed in the 60th minute.

Corey Parker's conversion struck the post to leave the Roosters trailing by 18 points.

James Maloney attempted a short kick-off from the restart but could only find Parker who charged back up the field which eventually allowed Milford to slot a drop goal for a 19-point Brisbane lead with as many minutes remaining.

From that point the Donkeys knew they were home and hosed, seeing out the match without conceding any second-half points to book their place in the ANZ Stadium decider against either the Melbourne Storm or North Queensland Cowboys.

Donkeys 31 (Darius Boyd, Ben Hunt, Andrew McCullough, Corey Oates, Anthony Milford, Jack Reed tries; Corey Parker 2, Jordan Kahu goals; Milford field goal) defeated Sydney Roosters 12 (Blake Ferguson 2 tries; James Maloney 2 goals) at Suncorp Stadium. Crowd: 51,826. Half-time: Donkeys 20-12. On report: Justin Hodges (Donkeys).

Roosters coach regrets playing Pearce

Tony Webeck Sat 26 Sep, 2015, 6:30am
By Tony Webeck*, Chief Queensland Correspondent, NRL.com



Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinsons has conceded the decision to bring Mitchell Pearce back from a hamstring injury to face the Donkeys in their Preliminary Final was the wrong one as the minor premiers failed to qualify for the grand final for a second successive year.

No other team in NRL premiership history has finished the regular season on top of the table two years in a row and not qualified for the grand final, and losing their State of Origin halfback after 40 minutes certainly didn't help the cause.

Pearce hadn't played since injuring his hamstring against Donkeys in Round 24 and grabbed at the back of his knee five minutes from half-time with his team trailing 16-12.

When the Roosters re-emerged for the second half they did so without their No.7 and Robinson was left to rue what he had learned only in hindsight.

"It wasn't supposed to be a roll of the dice," Robinson said of the decision to play Pearce.

"He'd been training fully since Monday, he was close last week and I don't know what happened.

"There was about five minutes before half-time and something happened and I could see that he was sore and he didn't have enough strength in it at half-time.

"Obviously in the end, not the right call from us."

The recurrence of Pearce's injury was just one of many misfortunes that befell the Roosters over the course of 80 minutes, the first of which came in the first 90 seconds of the game.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall's decision to attmept a 20-metre pass to fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck landed on the chest of the opposition No.1 as Darius Boyd raced away to score one of the most extraordinary tries in NRL finals history.

While in many ways it set the tone for what was to come, Robinson said that his side should have been resilient enough to recover from the earliest of setbacks.


"Obviously not a great moment – he wasn't sure whether to let it out, run it or pass it, took some time and ended up passing it to Darius," Robinson reflected.

"You want them to back their instincts – got it wrong on that occasion – but that's the freedom you want to allow players to have but you want them to make the right call.

"Not the right call on that occasion but that's not the reason we lost the game. We had our opportunities to get our game on and we didn't.

"We started on the back foot and tried to get back into the game at certain points but too stop-start and not enough of our footy under pressure.

"We obviously got some rhythm to get back to 16-12 but we didn't earn it enough to put enough pressure on them."

Added captain Jake Friend: "The try off the pass was so early that it doesn't really have an effect, I don't think.

"We got into the huddle and talked about getting back into the game and I don't think we did it as well as we could have."

Robinson's record of delivering three minor premierships in his first three years in charge at the Roosters is an enviable one, but a solitary grand final appearance in that time was not enough for the former Catalans Dragons mentor.

"We've been really strong over the last three years – and sometimes the club has different views – but I've got my views on what should have happened over the last three years and there's disappointment there," said Robinson.

"We tried probably more individual stuff than what we have in the past and you lose connection with the guys around you in the team when you start moving away from what you do.

"We've been fairly good over the last few years about staying to our style and being consistent under pressure and we weren't tonight