They have one of the most talented rosters on paper and were a popular pick to win the premiership, but ill-discipline could again cost the Roosters a shot at the title.
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And according to veteran rugby league reporter Paul Crawley, captain James Tedesco has to lead from the front in changing his ways to get the message through to his teammates.
The Roosters entered 2026 with high expectations after signing premiership-winning playmaker Daly Cherry-Evans but the results in round one were underwhelming, with the Tricolours suffering a heavy loss at the hands of the Warriors.
Much was made of Cherry-Evans’ defensive struggles and how that may hurt the Roosters in 2026, but discipline — both in relation to ball handling and penalties — was also an issue.
It didn’t help, Crawley argued, that skipper Tedesco was constantly in referee Wyatt Raymond’s face throughout the game, with halfback Sam Walker also doing the same at various points.
“I thought they were completely over the top,” Crawley said on NRL 360.
“James Tedesco is one of the statesmen of our game. He’s a New South Wales captain. He should know better than to get up in the referee’s face throughout that game and just keep going and going and going.”
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For a Roosters team that conceded 11 penalties, it wasn’t the right message to be sending given ill-discipline has consistently been an issue under coach Trent Robinson.
Of course, to that point it didn’t help either that Robinson himself also took aim at the lopsided penalty count in his post-game press conference instead of putting the onus on his players to improve their discipline.
But beyond the message it sent his teammates, Crawley said it was also about Tedesco setting a better example for kids watching the game.
“They are role models to the kids out there, and it sets a bad example for young rugby league players coming into a season when you had Teddy constantly in his face, arguing all the time… Sam (Walker) wasn’t much better,” Crawley said.
“He was constantly blowing up about different decisions and everything, and I just think they’ve got to be more responsible.
“They’ve got to get the discipline in their game. In the last five seasons the Roosters have always been down near the least disciplined teams in the competition, so they’ve got to take some onus on this.
“It’s no use Trent Robinson getting there after the game and making out that was an issue. Their discipline’s been an issue for years.”
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That is backed up in the numbers, with the Roosters conceding a competition-high 189 penalties in 2024 while since 2018 they have only finished outside the three most penalised teams in the NRL once.
While Braith Anasta conceded the state of officiating over the weekend was “poor”, he said the Roosters need to get better at controlling their emotions on the field.
“You see the frustration in the players, and it got the better of them,” he said.
“… I can only imagine within the four walls of the group to think that if the Roosters team with the squad they’ve got completed at 74 per cent or better they don’t lose, and you can see even when they controlled the footy for a small period of time there they were all over the Warriors, but they just shot themselves in the foot.
“I don’t agree with being up in the face of the referees at all. I thought the officiating over the weekend was poor… but they were frustrated.”
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