For most sides, an exit in the preliminary finals is considered a successful season.
But when you’re the Sydney Roosters, boasting one of the game’s most experienced and talented sides, with international and Origin stars from left wing to right wing, and even stacking the bench, a pre-grand final exit is hardly anything to write home about.
Against the minor premiers Melbourne Storm on Friday night, Trent Robinson’s side were thoroughly beaten, with the gulf in class between the two sides coming to the fore in the final 20 minutes of the game.
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In the end, Craig Bellamy’s side proved too good, with the result continuing the worrying trend of the Roosters being unable to beat either of the Panthers and the Storm.
Since 2020, they’ve beaten the pair just once, with their poor showings against the competition’s benchmark sides has led Fox League’s Matty Johns to urge Robinson to alter his side’s playing style.
“I hear it all the time they say ‘Roosters football, the Roosters way.’ Well they’ve got to tear it up because it (isn’t) working,” he said on Finals Footy with Matty Johns.
Johns believes the Roosters’ “inability to beat those sides isn’t about the roster, it is about the style of football they play.”
For this reason, the 1997 premiership winner believes Robinson will start 2025 “under pressure.”
“It’s a big season and a big off season of self assessment.”
Making the Roosters task next season all the more difficult is the fact seven of the club’s current roster won’t don the tri-colours next season: Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Luke Keary, Joseph Manu, Joseph Sua’ali’i, Sitili Tupouniia, Dylan Napa and Michael Jennings.
With those departures, the Roosters lose a mountain of vital leadership and experience, compounded by the absences of stars Brandon Smith and Sam Walker, who will miss a chunk of next season through injuries.
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Chad Townsend arrives from the Cowboys to soften the blow of Walker’s absence, but the fact remains Robinson will be light on troops in the crucial early stages of a crucial season in his coaching career.
Asked if Smith and Walker’s absences in the finals mean a prelim exit is a “pass mark,” Johns replied he didn’t believe so.
“It’s still a very, very strong side,” he said.
“Given the record against those sides, if they’d have won with those blokes it’d have still been a shock.”
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