A bit like the biblical rain, thunder and lightning that thrashed Allianz Stadium on Friday night, the Roosters needed all of 10 minutes to bury Parramatta and confirm their status as the NRL’s most dangerous attacking side.
A bit like the puddles that refused to drain from the $830 million venue, you still wonder exactly where Trent Robinson’s falls in the scheme of things, though they can only beat and beat up on the opposition in front of them.
Another NRL outing, another downpour of points, and another of this year’s also-rans duly disposed of, the Eels beaten 38-14 in front of a healthy, if soggy Allianz crowd of 20,724.
This wasn’t quite the cracking pace and impressive play produced by competition frontrunners Melbourne and Penrith 24 hours earlier – a grand final dress rehearsal in the eyes of many. But given the Tricolours had conceded 88 points in their past three games, leaving the door open for high-scoring 40-34 and 34-30 against the Dolphins and Manly, the strong defence - at least until the last few minutes - pleased Robinson and skipper James Tedesco most.
“When we’re at our best we’re pretty hard to stop,” Tedesco said.
“But we have our lapses like at the end of the game there where we let in a couple of tries. We can work on that and have our improvement towards an 80-minute performance – I don’t think we’ve had that all year but when we’re getting towards finals time, we need to have that.”
In truth, the Eels are 16th, and they’re not the Dolphins or Manly. Without million-dollar half Mitchell Moses, captain Junior Paulo and several others, Parramatta were already gone on paper and, in Trent Barrett’s words, they are their “own worst enemies”.
They were blown off the paddock as soon as Wiremu Greig hit Connor Watson high and found himself in the bin after 14 minutes. By the time the Eels had a full complement of 13 again, both Roosters wingers had scored and Watson had been ruled out of the game.
Tedesco was dummying and strolling past Gutherson a minute after Greig found his way back onto the sodden turf and into a 24-0 contest.
Kelma Tuilagi put Parramatta on the board before Brendan Hands was sin-binned for a professional foul and the Eels went down to 12 again.
By the time he returned, Dominic Young had the second of his three tries, Sitili Tupouniua a try for his 100th NRL game and the Roosters had helped themselves to four tries against a shortened defensive line.
Roosters centre Joseph Suaalii battles the Eels’ defence - and the sodden playing surface.Credit: Getty Images
For a team averaging 30 points a game and batting the best they have since Dave Brown – rugby league’s Don Bradman – had the Roosters scoring three-point tries for fun in the 1930s, points have never been an issue. Nor is a potential banana peel game against sides outside the top eight.
Friday’s scoreline was on point with the 10 wins the Tricolours have jagged against the Broncos, Eels and Dragons (twice), Rabbitohs, Knights, Warriors Raiders and Tigers. The Roosters have won each of those by an average margin of 38-14.
As the Roosters are well aware though, their record against Penrith and Melbourne is woeful, winning just once in 20 games against the top two sides since 2020.
The Titans (13th), Raiders (12th) and Souths (15th) are next on the horizon leading into the finals with a top-four berth almost in the bag.
And as for where they truly sit in the premiership pecking order? Well, it might be a while yet.
