Topic: Broken Roosters crash to new low with defeat against Canberra Raiders

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Broken Roosters crash to new low with defeat against Canberra Raiders

THE way Brian Smith tells the story, the Sydney Roosters are a little bit like Humpty Dumpty. If that's accurate, then they well and truly fell off the wall for good against Canberra at the SFS.


Canberra's Jarrod Croker crosses the line during the Raiders' demolition of the Roosters. Source: Getty Images

In a season of low points for last year's grand finalists, the Roosters have now officially hit rock bottom. It was their worst loss of the season so far and came at a time when they needed to turn in one of their best performances to keep their fading finals hopes alive.

The loss will only intensify the speculation surrounding Smith's position, with the veteran coach fighting off reports that all is not well at Bondi Junction and he has lost the support of several key players, including Dally M winner Todd Carney and Gold Coast-bound Nate Myles.

Myles, along with fellow State of Origin representatives Mitchell Pearce and Anthony Minichiello, was not on hand to face the Raiders, but that was hardly an excuse given other clubs have been without more players this round and they have turned in more committed performances.

Smith also pointed to the fact the club has a burgeoning injury list that includes forwards Frank-Paul Nuuausala, Martin Kennedy and Mitchell Aubusson. But there was more than enough experience out there, with nine of the 17 players involved in last year's decider.

"We have got somewhere between six or seven guys there in our team tonight who at this stage of their careers are not capable of playing 80 minutes together," Smith said.

"And then the rest of our experienced guys are trying to hold Humpty Dumpty together all the time and they finish up making mistakes and errors because they are fatigued."

What must be worrying for Smith is the fact one of the most potent attacks in the NRL has lost its lustre. You have to go back to their round four 24-6 win over Wests Tigers in April to find the last time they scored more than 13 points in a match this season.

That statistic didn't get any better against Canberra. Save for Carney - who set up both of the Roosters tries and finished off the second one himself - the Roosters never looked like getting over the white stripe for any more than 12 points.

It was especially disappointing considering Smith had taken his troops to the NSW Central Coast in the lead-up to try to get them to bond together and end an awful form slump, which has seen the side drop nine of its last 11 matches. "There are a lot of shattered young fellas in there at the moment - there will be some guys sleeping about six inches into the mattress tonight," Smith said.

"I'm not sure the coach will be sleeping quite as soundly as that. (But) that group of guys that played tonight prepared as well as any team I've seen. They were absolutely outstanding in the way they bonded together and tried to get the best out of each other."

There was even worse to come for the Roosters, with the Raiders accusing them of spoiling tactics after the game. That being the case, they were still far too strong for their opponents, with the only sour note being a bicep injury to Tom Learoyd-Lahrs.

"I thought there were obviously two teams out there, but one team came to play footy and one team came to spoil a bit," Raiders coach David Furner said.

Canberra 38 (J Croker 2 S Fensom B Ferguson J Papalii J Picker J Thompson tries J Croker 5 goals)
Sydney Roosters 12 (T Carney S Perrett tries T Carney 2 goals) at Sydney Football Stadium. Referees: Matt Cecchin, Henry Perenara. Crowd: 9817.

Source: The Australian