Round 15
Tigers 26 d. Roosters 14

2006 NRL Telstra Premiership Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: Aus_NZ > National > First Grade Competition: NRL Telstra Premiership

Wests continue Roosters form slump
Sun June 18, 2006
Wests Tigers have continued the Roosters poor season with a 26-14 victory at Telstra Stadium last night. The Roosters have lost five of their past six matches since the infamous Brett Finch comment at the Roosters supporters where he said they can "kiss my arse".

The Roosters were desperate for victory to get their season on track and it was also a big match for Finch and five-eighth partner Braith Anasta as they needed to stamp their authority for the selectors to retain them with confidence.

It was a great start for the Bondi boys where they opened up a 10-0 lead after 25 minutes and it looked good for the visitors.

Brett Hodgson saved a try when Craig Fitzgibbon bursted into gaping hole and Hodgson freakishly got underneath Fitzgibbon to save what normally would be a certain try. Hodgson quickly turned from hero to villian next tackle when he fumbled a deft grubber kick from Finch with Shaun Foley on the spot to score after 15 minutes.

The Roosters went further ahead 10 minutes later when Ryan Cross scored a great try in the corner for a 10-0 lead.

Wests Tigers quickly bounced back with Michael Crockett scoring in the 28th minute and three minutes later Ben Galea backed up a fine break from Scott Pricne to all the sudden turn a 10-0 deficit into a 12-10 lead with Hodgson converting both tries with the Crockett conversion coming from right on touch.

Benji Marshall extended Wests lead in the 51st minute when he was on the spot to dive on the ball following a grubber into the ingoal area and Hodgson converted for Wests to lead 18-10.

Robbie Farah crashed over from dummy half three minutes later as Wests were going on with the game. Hodgson failed to convert with the Tigers up 22-10.

There were no points for the next 19 minutes as the game hit a stalemate until Chris Flannery crossed to give the Roosters an opportunity to do what Manly did the week before to steal the match from Wests control. Amos Roberts failed to convert, which was crucial as the Roosters had to score twice being down by eight.

A piece of Marshall brilliance sealed the match where he created a try for Dean Collis with three minutes remaining. Hodgson couldn't convert wirh Wests emerging 26-14 victors.

Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens after the match said, "We are definitely playing better now than at this time last year.

"But having said that, we still have a fair bit of work to do and there is still plenty of improvement in the team. It wasn't a great game and it showed where both teams are on the table."

Marshall added, "We were a bit scrappy but it was a big game for us and we needed to win it. I found open space out there a few times and while we didn't play well, at least we scored some good tries."

Roosters coach Ricky Stuart said, "We tried very hard tonight but were basically beaten by some touches of class from the opposition. Class players can produce special things."

There's already been stinging comments from Roosters fans on their forum website, The Wall, where several fans have called for Stuart, Finch, Anasta and Ashley Harrison amongst others to be sacked from the club and are calling for a complete clean out of the joint.

The Roosters along with Manly were the most aggressive teams in the open market last year and signed two current Origin players with all the tipsters having the Roosters in the top eight and the majority of those had the Bondi boys amongst the top four.

Again the Roosters are going through another Transit Lounge period with Cross and Adrian Morley being forced out of the club and there's also a strong chance that captain Fitzgibbon could be leaving Bondi Junction. The Roosters have been linked to signing Roy Asotasi, Willie Tonga, Nate Myles and Justin Poore as the club doesn't even get a chance to get any stability that they had in the latter years of Brad Fittler's career.

On paper, the Roosters should be amongst the top sides and question marks deserve to be raised about Stuart's true coaching ability and also the strength of the players in how they've fared in the post-Fittler era. Only Anthony Minichiello has become a better footballer in the post-Fittler era and he's one who has completely flourished under Stuart.

Anasta joined the Roosters with big fanfare saying that Stuart is the best coach he's had, the Bulldogs are a club going stale and how much better he'll become at the Roosters. Anasta struggled at the Bulldogs since his boom year in 2001 with the exception of the early rounds of 2005 - both times where he was off-contract. Anasta's football has gone backwards since leaving Steve Folkes and Brent Sherwin, two primary for his departure from the Bulldogs. Roosters fans are commenting how Stuart and Finch are holding him back, but they were two of the reasons he joined the Bondi Junction club.

Harrison has struggled as well and came from the bench in last night's loss and was predicted to be the buy of the season. Instead Harrison is challenging Anasta as the worst buy the season and the message should be clear to the Roosters officials to invest in kids like Foley and Josh Lewis rather than buy any imports that come on the open market, which sometimes seem like buying for the sake of buying.

Finch needed a big match to keep the New South Wales No.7 jersey after an embarrassing game last Wednesday night and was out played by former Queensland and Australian halfback Prince. Finch tried hard all night but doesn't have the consistent spark of other halfbacks and the NSW selectors will now be looking at Craig Gower, Brett Kimmorley or Matt Orford to replace Finch. Unfortunately Finch is a player who hasn't endeared himself to the Roosters supporters with his comments after their victory against the Cowboys in Round 8 and is already being made the scapegoat by the fans for the loss against the Wests Tigers.

With much of the system and key officials in their favour, the Roosters shouldn't be as low as they are on the table.

The defending Premiers however remain in equal 8th position but pushed to 9th due to the Cowboys having a superior for and against. They are two points behind Newcastle and Manly who both had losses this round. They are building themselves nicely into defending their Premiership and with Marshall showing more confidence, they'll only get better during the second half of the season.

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