JUNIORS: Young Stars Step Up

With Keilee Joseph representing the Women’s Indigenous All Stars and a number of young Roosters contributing to the Club’s NRL trial win against Wests Tigers, it was another positive weekend for the Club’s junior programs.

Joseph, who plays in for the Club’s Tarsha Gale Cup side and was an NRLW development squad player in 2020, ran the ball 8 times for 55 metres and made 21 tackles in 36 minutes off the bench.

Sydney Roosters Head of Recruitment and Junior Player Development Daniel Anderson was thrilled Joseph got a taste of representative duties.

“Any opportunity to be part of a representative team is a tremendous reward,” Anderson said.

“It also shows Keilee is highly regarded by her peers. For her, hopefully, it is the start of many more representative fixtures.”

One of the pleasing aspects of the Roosters 28-22 NRL trial win against Wests Tigers at Kirkham Oval was the contribution of three SG Ball and four Jersey Flegg players.

Jersey Flegg squad member Ronald Volkman (2) and Naufahu Whyte got on the board, with fellow Jersey Flegg teammates Tuku Hau-Tapuha and Kobe Rugless also involved in the win.

SG Ball hooker Tom Deakin and second rower Zac Montgomery started for the Roosters, with SG Ball teammate Aso Fratton coming off the bench. 

Anderson was pleased to see the juniors contribute to the win against a Tigers squad that had several players with NRL experience.

“It is good they got the opportunity. It is not easy to get an opportunity to play at a higher age group at the Roosters,” Anderson said.

“But the Roosters boys who are playing above their age group have to be good when they get there. They need to show they are not out of their depth.”

The Jersey Flegg players not involved in the NRL trial had their first trial, taking on South Sydney at Mascot Oval.

The 2020 Jersey Flegg season was cancelled after just one round due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, meaning it was the first Jersey Flegg game for the Roosters in 11 months.

Central Coast Roosters will be looking to bounce back with a win against the Sydney Roosters in the Harold Matthews Cup after missing a great opportunity to defeat Western Suburbs Magpies at Campbelltown Stadium.

Down 12-0 early due to three consecutive tries to the Magpies, Central Coast levelled the scores at half-time.

Ethan Strange made the most of a Magpies penalty to score a try and set up an easy conversion for fellow halves partner Hayden Ritchie.

Roosters centre Robert Toia made a number of good runs throughout the game, but arguably the best was running past a few opponents to score a try late in the first half.

There were some good defensive efforts to prevent Western Suburbs from scoring a second half try, but the Roosters’ errors in attack cost them dearly. The Magpies won the game by scoring a penalty goal with just five minutes remaining.

Anderson, who has been closely following the Central Coast team, expects them to learn plenty from Saturday’s game. 

“I thought they missed a golden opportunity to win the game,” he said.

“They played without their usual composure and missed way too many opportunities. They dropped the ball twice over the try line.

“Wests had a bit a possession early and have some really big guys, so they did very well to get back into the game before half-time.

“They showed fitness and competitiveness but lacked the necessary decisions in the second half to score points.

“(Sydney) will need to play well because Central Coast will be better than what they showed (on Saturday).”

Sydney Roosters Harold Matthews side is still undefeated. The team had the bye in round 3.

At the end of round three, both Roosters sides are in the top six of the Harold Matthews Cup.

The Tarsha Gale side put in another strong showing despite going down to early competition contenders Newcastle Knights 22-10.

Down 12-6 at half-time, an early second half try to Otesa Pule got the Roosters within two points, but two tries midway through the second half saw Newcastle continue their unbeaten start to the season.

The Tarsha Gale girls have a bye in round 4, with the squad’s next game against Cronulla Sharks at Bill Hicks Oval in Wyong on Saturday, March 6.

With teams awarded two points on a bye round, the Roosters will remain in the top six going in to round 5.

Sydney Roosters’ SG Ball team is set to travel to Melbourne for round 4 to take on Victoria Thunderbolts after having a bye in round 3.

The Roosters currently seventh on the SG Ball ladder, but a win should elevate them into the top six.

The road trip to Harden was successful for the Central Coast Roosters, with the Laurie Daley Cup and Andrew Johns Cup teams enjoying wins against Riverina Bulls.

The Laurie Daley Cup team enjoyed an 18-0 lead at half-time, and were hungry to score more in the second half as the ran out to a big 38-12 win.

Two second half tries from Jake Elliott saw the Andrew Johns Cup side snatch a 22-18 win.

ROUND 3 SCOREBOARD

TARSHA GALE CUP