Roosters leapfrog Sea Eagles on NRL ladder after gritty win

The Sydney Roosters’ NRL season has a pulse after Sam Walker inspired a 20-4 defeat of Manly that puts a big dent in the Sea Eagles’ finals hopes.

The Roosters could’ve all but kissed their top-eight dream goodbye with a loss at wet and wild Brookvale Oval on Saturday night, having dropped three of their previous four matches.

But in a duel against Manly veteran Daly Cherry-Evans, his probable halves partner next year, No.7 Walker breathed life into his side’s season by playing a hand in all three Roosters tries.

Captain courageous James Tedesco set the tone for the Roosters’ best defensive performance of the year with two try-saving tackles on the right edge while the game was in the balance.

The Roosters have now leapfrogged Manly into ninth on the ladder, a win out of the top eight and seemingly locked in a three-way battle with the Sea Eagles and Dolphins for eighth place.

The loss may come back to haunt Manly given it keeps their rivals in the hunt and leaves them likely needing to win at least two of their tough clashes against the Dolphins, Warriors and Canberra.

Manly enjoyed the bulk of early chances but had only one try to show for it as Tom Trbojevic, playing fullback during Lehi Hopoate’s head injury assessment, swung left to put Tolu Koula over.

Hopoate returned but was shifted to the wing late in the game with Trbojevic slotting into fullback after weeks of debate as to how Manly should best use the former Dally M Medallist.

Terrible conditions played their part as Trbojevic spilt the ball into the hands of Queensland star Robert Toia, whose charge upfield swung momentum dramatically into the Roosters’ favour.

On the back of that Toia line break late in the first half, Walker found Billy Smith with a grubber kick for the Roosters’ first try and the visitors were over again in the next set.

Tedesco belted through the middle past Jake Trbojevic and Tof Sipley and found Walker, who slipped over but regained his footing and kicked left to a diving Daniel Tupou.

The veteran winger managed an offload for Angus Crichton to score one of the season’s great team tries.

It was a three-score game when a Walker kick was allowed to bounce into the arms of Egan Butcher at close range early in the second half.

Manly’s Ben Trbojevic suffered a game-ending concussion when clashing heads with teammate Luke Brooks, playing his 250th game.

He will miss next week’s clash with ladder-leading Canberra and could be joined on the sidelines by Jake Simpkin after the back-up hooker left for a late head injury assessment following a tackle on Siua Wong.

AAP

This is a huge result for the Roosters.

By beating Manly, they also leapfrog them into ninth spot on the ladder. Their play-off hopes remain alive.

There were two critical factors behind the outcome; Sam Walker’s kicking game and the Roosters defence.

It’s all about playing to the conditions and Trent Robinson’s men did just that. They actually had to do more defence in their red zone, but only let in the one try.

And while they had less opportunities, the visitors took the ones presented to them. Walker had a hand - or foot - in all three tries.

After outpointing Daly Cherry-Evans, the expectation is that they will pair up in the halves next year.

And that’s the full-time siren.

Great performance from the Roosters, they were the much better team after withstanding an early onslaught.

The race for those last couple of spots in the eight remains wide open.

With the game seemingly out of Manly’s reach, we turn our attention to some of the key takeaways from the action we have seen so far.

Sam Walker has been the best player on the field, a masterclass in just his fourth game back from injury.

While there is no official announcement, we are all expecting that Daly Cherry-Evans will join him at the Roosters scrumbase.

Who will be the dominant half? Will the pair gel as well as Hugo Savala is with Walker at the moment?

In just his fourth game but from injury, Sam Walker has produced another try assist.

The Sea Eagles couldn’t defuse his bomb - Mark Nawaqanitawase came up with the tap-back - and Egan Butcher has come up with the spoils.

Walker converts and this has now become a massive assignment for Manly.

Roosters lead 20-4 after 13 minutes.

You look at the numbers, and the Roosters have no right to be leading at half-time.

The Sea Eagles were leading just about every stat at the 30-minute mark, but had only one try to show for all of their advantages.

And then it was all the Roosters in the last 10 minutes, who just about evened up possession (49 per cent) by the time they went into the sheds.

James Tedesco produced a couple of try-savers on his line that could prove crucial.

And then there was that Angus Crichton try, as good as anything you could hope to witness in wet conditions.

Manly will now have to run into a very stiff breeze if they are to win this. Both teams have their season on the line, a big 40 minutes coming up.

The half-time buzzer has sounded, just as the rain begins coming down sideways.

It was also a downpour of points late in the half late from the Roosters, who scored two late tries.

A huge effort given they were running into a gale.