Round 26 Rooters v Rabbits

ROOSTERS V RABBITOHS - FRI 4 SEPTEMBER, 7.45PM, ALLIANZ STADIUM | BUY TICKETS

Roosters
1 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck
2 Daniel Tupou
3 Michael Jennings
4 Blake Ferguson
5 Brendan Elliot
6 James Maloney
7 Jackson Hastings
8 Sam Moa
9 Jake Friend (c)
10 Dylan Napa
11 Boyd Cordner
12 Aidan Guerra
13 Sio Siua Taukeiaho

Interchange
14 Mitchell Aubusson
15 Isaac Liu
16 Kane Evans
17 Suaia Matagi
18 Matt McIlwrick

Coach: Trent Robinson

Rabbitohs
1 Alex Johnston
2 Joel Reddy
3 Dylan Walker
4 Kirisome Auva'a
5 Bryson Goodwin
6 Luke Keary
7 Adam Reynolds
8 George Burgess
9 Cameron McInnes
10 David Tyrrell
11 Glenn Stewart
12 Chris McQueen
13 Kyle Turner

Interchange
14 Jason Clark
15 Chris Grevsmuhl
16 Tim Grant
17 Thomas Burgess
18 Paul Carter

Coach: Michael Maguire

Roosters v Rabbitohs preview

Chris Kennedy Wed 02 Sep, 2015, 9:25am
By Chris Kennedy*, National Correspondent, NRL.com

Roosters v Rabbitohs preview
Sydney Roosters v South Sydney Rabbitohs
Allianz Stadium
Friday 7.45pm

How the tides have turned. When these two teams met in Round 2, the red-hot premiers aced the Tricolours 34-26. That was off the back of blitzing the Broncos in Round 1 and surging through the pre-season undefeated, including World Cup Challenge and Auckland Nines trophies on the back of their amazing 2014 Grand Final win.

Fast forward 24 weeks – six months, give or take, and another 22 NRL matches apiece – and the Roosters are vying for a 12th straight win and the minor premiership while the injury-hit Rabbitohs are clinging to seventh spot on the ladder after four straight losses.

It's not all doom and gloom for the Bunnies – a win here could potentially lift them as high as fourth if the Warriors somehow down the Bulldogs – but those four losses (especially last week's 47-12 defeat against the Broncos) coupled with injuries and suspensions to crucial players has them reeling.

Hooker Issac Luke has potentially played his last game for the club (unless they're alive come week two of the finals) after taking the early plea and two-game ban for a shoulder charge. John Sutton has a broken leg and fullback Greg Inglis still isn't back from minor knee surgery.

Cameron McInnes returns at hooker and Chris McQueen is in the back row as straight swaps for Luke and Sutton, while a backline reshuffle sees Dylan Walker return to his preferred centre role, Alex Johnston move to fullback and Bryson Goodwin shift out to the wing.

The home side aren't without their own injury concerns but they have no fresh ones to add to the losses of Mitch Pearce and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, and are actually strengthened from the side that towelled up Manly at Brookvale last week with Michael Jennings returning from a one-game suspension at centre, pushing Mitch Aubusson to the bench and Matt McIlwrick to 18th man.


Watch out Roosters: Alex Johnston is now the third top try scorer in the NRL this year with 17 four-pointers and the young speedster has been given a licence to roam at the back with Inglis still out. Souths were disjointed in that area last week, swapping between Dylan Walker, Johnston and even Bryson Goodwin but the 20-year-old local junior prefers the space at the back and will continue to improve in the role. Souths need to start stronger in the forwards than they did last week to give him more room to move but if they can achieve that we may start to see what he's capable of in space.

Watch out Rabbitohs: While we're talking fullbacks, it doesn't get any more dangerous in 2015 than Roosters custodian Roger Tuivasa-Sheck. We're pretty much out of superlatives to try and describe his footwork and his running game. And so devastating are they that they almost take the gloss off his ball-playing, which has developed out of sight this year and contributed to his whopping three try assists last week. The raw numbers (513 runs for 5,500 running metres at 240 per game, all easily NRL highs, plus 134 tackle breaks – second in NRL) are simply incredible. And last week he only got better when halfback Jackson Hastings and hooker Jake Friend were subbed off, showing how much he appears to be thriving on having responsibility this season.

Key Match-Up: James Maloney v Luke Keary. Maloney has been monumental since halves partner Mitchell Pearce has been injured, providing guidance to young half Jackson Hastings and guiding the side around expertly. It's hard to think any other side in the competition could counter the loss of an Origin halfback the way the Roosters have been able to through Maloney and Hastings' partnership. Luke Keary by comparison is the junior man in his halves partnership alongside Adam Reynolds but has struggled for the same impact he had last year in a team experiencing more injuries and disruptions than in his breakout 2014 season. Maloney has certainly had the bigger impact in attack, with nine tries and 17 try assists compared to four tries and nine try assists for Keary. Interestingly, even though Maloney has played one more game (23 against 22) Keary has had far more touches this year, with 1,142 against just 732 touches for Maloney.

The History: Played 211; Roosters 97, Rabbitohs 109, Draws 5. There is no shortage of history between these two old rivals, who've been going at it for over a century now. Recent form favours the Rabbitohs, who have won five of the past seven, including the past two straight. Even returning to the scene of last week's disaster should hold few fears – they had won five of their previous six at Allianz Stadium prior to running into the Broncos there last week.

What Are The Odds: There's no love at all for the Rabbitohs from Sportsbet customers – with five times as much money invested on the Roosters in the head-to-head market, and punters are even keen on backing them giving away the start at the line. Latest odds at Sportsbet.com.au

Match Officials: Jared Maxwell & Gavin Morris; touch judges: Brett Suttor & Jeff Younis; Video Referees: Bernard Sutton & Ben Galea.

Televised: Channel Nine, Live, 7.30pm.

The Way We See It: No Inglis, no Sutton and no Luke makes it very hard for the Bunnies. They really need a win both for their own confidence ahead of the finals and to reduce the odds of an unappetising road trip to Melbourne for a sudden-death elimination final next week. Their lacklustre effort last week makes it hard to see where that will come from against a Roosters side riding a huge wave of form. Roosters by 12.

Rooster Clinch Minor Premiership in Souths Demolition




A slick 80-minute performance from title favourites the Roosters has shut out a woeful Rabbitohs side 30-0, earning their third straight minor premiership in the process.

Rnd 26: Fri 4 Sep 2015, 7:45pm, Allianz Stadium


Strangely, after an explosive 30-0 first half from the Tricolours both sides were kept to nil in a grafting second 40.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson would be most pleased with a brilliant defensive effort, repeatedly seeing his side turn away attacking sets and repel goal-line dropouts, although he would be more concerned stars James Maloney and Dylan Napa are on report.

The loss ensures Souths will finish seventh, barring a 40-point loss to Canterbury against the Warriors, but a bigger headache for coach Michael Maguire will be the dismal form of his side minus stars Greg Inglis, Issac Luke and John Sutton in the three games leading up to the finals.

Souths frequently looked rudderless, especially in the first half as the home side exploded out of the blocks.

Both sides survived an early raid each – the Roosters after Siua Taukeiaho's drop in the very first set and then Souths after George Burgess was penalised for an ugly, cheap forearm to the face of a prone Roger Tuivasa-Sheck that wasn't placed on report but may attract the attention of the match review committee.

It was barely a stay of execution for the beleaguered Rabbitohs though as another penalty – this time against Kirisome Auva'a – allowed Michael Jennings on return from a one-game suspension to spin through one tackle and accelerate past Dylan Walker to open the scoring.

In the blink of an eye it was 18-0 as two pinpoint James Maloney bombs landed on a dime for first Blake Ferguson to score then Boyd Cordner to gleefully clean up the scraps when Joel Reddy couldn't mark a skyscraper.

A Cameron McInnes drop followed by a 10-metre penalty against Tim Grant again had the home side attacking and a perfect offload from Cordner – with the arm-carrying ball just centimetres off the turf – sat up perfectly for Friend. Maloney's fourth straight conversion made it 24-0 at better than a point-per-minute.

The only thing not going the Roosters' way at that point was their brand-new jerseys, which had the numbers falling off the back at such a rate at one stage it looked they had four fullbacks on the field after several forwards lost one of the numbers off their backs, and a few players ended up with no number at all.

The only thing falling apart faster than the Tricolours' jerseys was the Rabbitohs' defence, which after a brief reprieve midway through the half was again torn apart when in-form fullback Tuivasa-Sheck's first sent Aidan Guerra over for a 30-0 lead with a short ball, then burst through a gap right on half-time which was unlucky not to lead to further points.

If the first half was an attacking exhibition, the second was a grafting war of attrition.

Two big shots from Sam Moa rattled Glenn Stewart, the second sending him for a concussion check, before Moa shook up the much bigger George Burgess with an even bigger hit. Some argy bargy between Taukeiaho and Paul Carter earned Souths a penalty with Kane Evans cautioned for hurling a ball at Carter in the aftermath.

The Roosters soaked up several sets at their line after being forced to drop out but every time were able to soak up the pressure with their line still intact.

One Rabbitohs set around 15 minutes from full-time won't make the highlight reels but will make Roosters coach Trent Robinson's personal highlight reel as the red, white and blue wall watched the Rabbitohs go right, then left, then right again and end up losing metres in the face of perfect goal-line defence before eventually producing an error.

It was shortly followed by a play that will make the highlight reels; Tuivasa-Sheck was forced to retreat to his own dead ball line to retrieve a kick. A couple of customary steps wrong footed three chasers before a pass sent winger Daniel Tupou away into space on a long gallop down the sideline. He found Jennings then Mitch Aubusson in support and though Aubusson was wrapped up by Chris McQueen the Souths back-rower was sin-binned for a professional foul for holding him down trying to allow his teammates time to get back onside.

The closest the Roosters came to extending their gap came when Mitch Aubusson was rightly penalised for a double movement after promoting the ball under the posts shortly after the resumption, and once more two minutes from fulltime when Jackson Hastings scythed through a yawning gap at the line but lost the ball in Alex Johnston's tackle as he looked to ground it.

It completed an unexpected scoreless half to seal the 30-nil result with the Roosters presented with the JJ Giltinan Shield as minor premiers for the third straight year. NRL CEO Dave Smith was on hand to deliver the prize after full-time following a rousing and complete performance by the premiership favourites.

One of the few headaches for Robinson after the game is both key playmaker James Maloney (trip) and prop Dylan Napa (crusher tackle) were placed on report. While Napa's looked accidental Maloney certainly has a case to answer after a brain explosion saw him stick his leg out in a virtual karate kick and the question will be whether the grading sees him miss game time.

Sydney Roosters 30 (Michael Jennings, Blake Ferguson, Boyd Cordner, Jake Friend, Aidan Guerra tries; James Maloney 5 goals) defeated South Sydney Rabbitohs 0 at Allianz Stadium. Half-time: Roosters 30-0. Crowd: 25,019. On report: James Maloney (tripping), Dylan Napa (crusher tackle).