Raiders wary of NRL Roosters halves17 March 2012, 5:02 pmCanberra coach David Furner has been impressed with the weekly improvement shown by underrated halfback Josh McCrone, but admits he faces a stern test coming up against the Sydney Roosters on Sunday.
McCrone has grown into his role as one of the Raiders go-to men in the past 18 months and has stepped up again in 2012, producing three line-break assists and two try assists in Canberra's opening two NRL matches.
But having outpointed former Queensland and Australian representative Scott Prince in last week's win over Gold Coast, McCrone faces Roosters' duo Mitchell Pearce and Braith Anasta.
"They've got more experience in the halves than us," Furner told AAP on Saturday.
"Anasta and Pearce have both had Origin and Australia experience. I do see them as a big threat.
"On the back of go forward and their back three who get plenty of metres, so we certainly haven't prepared as if we're up against an inconsistent side.
"I think that we're up against a very strong opposition. We need to improve ourselves."
Furner said he was pleased with McCrone's growing confidence and predicted more improvement as the season wore on, with his combination with five-eighth Terry Campese being an important facet of Canberra's success this season.
"What I liked about week one to week two were his improvements," Furner said.
"It's about building combinations not only with Campo but with our nine (Travis Waddell) and our one (Josh Dugan)."
Campese has shown positive signs already this season having missed all but eight minutes in 2011 due to knee and groin injuries.
"It's good for Campo just going out and playing," Furner said.
"It's a lot of footy he's missed, but he's moved on from last year and I think we all have."
Both sides are fielding youthful squads, with the Roosters boasting just two players over the age of 26 while Canberra's backline is stacked with young stars, but Furner doesn't believe either team suffer as a result.
"We both do (have young squads), so I don't think they'll be using that as an excuse nor us," he said.
Furner said at this stage there were no changes to the team that will take the field at Allianz Stadium, but confirmed giant forward Tom Learoyd-Lahrs (foot) would travel with the team and couldn't rule out a late callup.
"I'm going to bring (Learoyd-Lahrs) down, because he's one of our leaders," Furner said.
"But there are no changes at this stage."
Source: Rugby League
Topic: Raiders wary of NRL Roosters halves
