Match Preview: Raiders v Roosters
The Sydney Roosters will travel to the nation’s capital this weekend in the hope of making it four wins in a row and continuing their solid start to the 2013 NRL season, when they play the Raiders on Sunday night at Canberra Stadium.
After a Round 1 loss to the Rabbitohs the boys from Bondi haven’t looked back with wins against the Warriors, Broncos and Eels in consecutive weeks and continue to show signs of a side that has been transformed under the guidance of new coach Trent Robinson and his staff.
However, it’s the past two weeks that have got the Tricolours noticed by those across the NRL world with 58 points scored and 0 against them.
Robinson made no secret of the fact he spent the majority of the off-season working on the sides defence after two seasons of leaking too many points and the results are already beginning to show.
However, Mitch Aubusson says he and the Roosters squad aren’t getting ahead of themselves just yet and know Premierships certainly aren’t won in the opening month of a season.
“We’ve been relatively happy with what we’ve done so far, but there’s plenty of areas that we still need to improve on.”
This Sunday they meet a side many are suggesting should be an easy-beat, with the boys from Canberra coming away from the opening four rounds of the competition with just one win to see them holding up the rest of the competition table in last position.
However, Canberra Stadium and their passionate fans is a well known ally to the boys in Green and the Roosters aren’t taking them lightly according to the backrower.
“They’re pretty strong all over the park and pretty young and enthusiastic... so we’ve got to make sure we’re on our game.”
Aubusson comes into the starting side for the first time since Round 1 in place of the injured Frank-Paul Nuuausala, who damaged his medial ligament in Monday night’s win over the Eels and will be out for up to six weeks.
Mobile backrower Aidan Guerra returns to the squad after missing the last three rounds with a knee injury, while 2013 high-profile recruit Luke O’Donnell also comes back into the selection fold after missing a week.
Aubusson had no doubt the two would have an impact straight away.
“They’re both pretty experienced guys and I’m looking forward to playing with them again and I’m sure they’ll both hold their heads high.”
Robinson has named an 18-man squad, with one player to be omitted from an extended bench including Guerra, O’Donnell, Daniel Mortimer, Marty Kennedy and last week’s NRL debutant Isaac Liu.
Source: http://www.roosters.com.au/news-display/Match-Preview-Raiders-v-Roosters/71732
Topic: Roosters preview of clash with Raiders
