The Roosters have found their premiership defence — and Penrith should be worried
The Wall of Bondi is back
The Roosters’ victory over Penrith was not merely another win in a streak I think has reached eight matches; it was proof they can defend when the temperature rises and the Panthers start throwing everything at them.
Penrith were coming off the Warriors game on a short turnaround, so I wouldn’t be too disappointed in their performance, but psychologically the Roosters had to win after years of being tormented by this opponent. Their goal-line scramble evoked the premiership foundations of 2013, 2018 and 2019, while their forward power game is coming together at precisely the right time.
The vulnerability remains their right edge, which Penrith repeatedly tested late and every serious opponent will target again. Daly Cherry-Evans can shoot out of the line under pressure, so communication inside him must improve. Still, he was man of the match at 37, picking his moments while allowing Sam Walker to run the side. That partnership looked clunky early; now the old master has parked his ego and found the perfect role.
They will meet again in September. No doubt.
The Mansour complaint was pure rugby league theatre
The Roosters were entitled to complain about Josh Mansour passing real-time defensive advice to Thomas Jenkins from his position as Penrith’s ground announcer, because being on the field created an obvious line he could not cross. The NRL ground manager correctly told him to stop.
But let’s retain some proportion. Mansour was not carrying a dossier of Roosters secrets; he was telling Jenkins whether to jam or drop, and the competition’s leading try scorer probably knows what he is doing anyway. It was a storm in a teacup, inflated by the sort of suspicion rugby league clubs treat as a core competency.
The rule was enforced, the messages stopped and civilisation survived. We can all move on.
Nathan Cleary should stay and chase history
Nathan Cleary should remain at Penrith, because money will follow him anywhere but a genuine chance to keep winning premierships is much harder to manufacture.
Penrith generally try to keep their best-player allocation around 10 per cent of the salary cap, while Tom Dearden’s Cowboys deal reaches 12 per cent either next year or the year after. Cleary could pursue a new challenge for considerably more, but squeezing every last dollar from the cap inevitably removes pieces from the team around him.
His decision is complicated by family, his partner being overseas and whether he wants to finish as a one-club player. Jet Cleary is returning from the Warriors after failing to break into first grade, which removes the previous concern that Nathan could block his path there, but the Warriors are already a premiership threat and I’m told they do not have the cap room anyway.
Cleary’s best chance of sustained success remains Penrith. Legacy beats novelty.
The Tigers must stop protecting a losing team
The Tigers should use the final three weeks to expose their best young players to first grade, because protecting them from losses makes little sense when losing has already become embedded in the club.
Adam Doueihi has undergone shoulder surgery after playing in pain since round nine, Latu Fainu has another hamstring injury and Jarome Luai desperately needs the season to end. The Roosters scored 82 against the Cowboys and now regain Teddy, while the Tigers’ remaining run also includes what I think is a trip to Townsville and then Penrith. It could become ugly.
Kieran Foran’s warning about introducing a young playmaker into a low-confidence side is valid, particularly in such an influential position, so Luai should finish the season as the experienced co-captain. Around him, however, any forward or outside back on the verge deserves an opportunity. Their enthusiasm may lift the senior players and, if they make mistakes, at least the club learns something useful.
Respectable defeats are not progress. They are defeats wearing makeup.
Penrith’s 2003 lesson still matters
Penrith’s 2003 premiership remains the perfect lesson in how winning culture is created: not through slogans, but through young players discovering that effort becomes contagious once a side gets over the line.
That team blended Trent Waterhouse, Luke Swain, Shane Rodney, Luke Lewis and Luke Rooney with experience and the missing link of Preston Campbell. After a poor start, wins produced extra training, support runners appeared everywhere and setbacks stopped feeling fatal. The game plan could be brutally simple — five hit-ups and a kick — because the power game created opportunities for talented players to improvise.
By grand final week, the Roosters were the reigning benchmark and carried a fearsome pack, yet Penrith were relaxed enough to treat the occasion as fun. John Lang understood people better than defensive manipulation, brought the group together and convinced them to attack the Roosters with their own intensity.
Talent gave that side possibilities. Belief made those possibilities inevitable.
Canterbury’s tinkering has created a roster trap
Canterbury have overcomplicated a side that should be built around defence, and their salary-cap squeeze means the consequences will not disappear next season.
Lachlan Galvin is a six, not a seven, while Matt Burton should have been handed the No.7 jumper and told to get his hands on the ball before using his greatest weapon: running. Instead, Stephen Crichton has been required in the halves and unproven Mitch Woods is being burdened with the future of the attack before playing a game. That is unfair development, not clever planning.
The Bulldogs beat Penrith and the Warriors through defence, but their line speed and aggression have disappeared during recent losses. Injuries to key forwards, Jacob Kiraz and Jacob Preston have hurt, yet the lack of depth comes back to roster balance. Crichton is reportedly on $1 million and Burton will be above $1 million next season, leaving no cap room and another round of departures looming.
Preston should be the priority. The Roosters have been linked, although Siua Wong already owns their right edge.
Canterbury earned their rise. Their football department is now tinkering it away.
