NRL Round 11 - Magic Round Review

What an absolute disaster of a match. We only have ourselves to blame for the performance on Saturday night. After sitting down in optimism seeing the players that the Cowboys had missing, the peak of the rollercoaster match came when Cody Ramsey went over in the corner for his first NRL try in over 1300 days. What a story and a great way for the Roosters to start.

It then looked like it was going to be the Roosters night when former Rooster Matt Lodge was sent to the sin bin for a high shot on Lindsey Collins and when the Roosters composure and performance should have put them away, it was the opposite - it fell of a steep cliff. Put it down to complacency, injuries, HIA's or trying too hard, the Roosters fell into a deep hole that they ended up not being able to get out of.

Not sure what the coaching team messages were during that 10 minutes but it seemed simple to me - run hard and straight down the middle. Instead they went side to side and made 4 consecutive errors that allowed the Cowboys to stay in the game and they ended up scoring next.

The injury to Daniel Tupou definitely did not help which through a spanner in the works because his replacement Junior Pauga, had what would be described as an absolute stinker of a game. I can't remember the last time a Roosters player was hooked because of such a bad performance.

The Roosters tried hard in the second half, however the Cowboys defence was strong and stout and they were clearly up for the challenge after throwing the win away last week. A stumble for the Roosters but ultimately the 19 errors in the match was our achilles heel that led to us losing our first match in a long time. The team will have the week off to recover and reflect because there are some big matches coming up over the next month with away matches in Melbourne, Canberra and Dolphins in Brisbane.

For me, the team needs to get back to what won them 6 matches in a row - big forwards running hard down the middle and quick play the balls with fast men coming through the ruck.

Awards of the Week:

Dunce of the weekend:

Junior Pauga - 4 errors in 48 minutes and being hooked - Junior is a clear standout in for this week.

Superstar of the weekend:

Hugo Savala - A versatile player who may have found his new home on an edge. Starting at centre, pushing to the wing and his runs in the backfield were inspirational for the team and got them going in the right direction.

1 try, 17 runs for 158 metres & 3 tackle breaks