Rugby league great Phil Gould says he’s worried for the Sydney Roosters after they were handed an “attitude check” following their upset loss to the Newcastle Knights last weekend.
The Roosters were well beaten at home with Adam O’Brien’s Knights piling on four tries to one to run out 20-6 winners in front of a stunned crowd at the SCG.
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It was a very different start to this season compared to last year when the Roosters blew Manly off the park by 42 points in Round 1.
The shock loss came despite the Tricolours having welcomed back a host of top 17 players who missed the back end of last season due to injury, with the likes of Joey Manu, Luke Keary, Lindsay Collins and Siosiua Taukeiaho back in the side.
“The Roosters were playing at home against a team they were expected to beat and got flogged, just blown off the park,” Gold told Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles with Gus.
“They tried to mount resistance but Newcastle was too enthusiastic, they were running too hard and too fast for them.
“The Roosters for the first time in a long time looked very isolated on the field. There wasn’t that collective team effort that you would normally attribute to them.
“It’s a [loss] you can dismiss and say it’s only Round 1 … by the same token, it’s an attitude check for the coach and the players, as to whether or not they went in with the right mentality.”
The Roosters play fellow premiership hopefuls Manly tonight, with the Sea Eagles also looking to bounce back after a humbling defeat.
Gould, a former Roosters coach, questioned whether current coach Trent Robinson’s decision to rest the bulk of his stars in the NRL trials led to last week’s disappointment, which he believes could signal depth issues in the squad.
“It’s well documented he (Trent Robinson) didn’t trial a lot of his top players leading into the start of the competition, which can say a couple of things – they weren’t quite ready, he thought they didn’t need it, or he didn’t want to risk them because he’s worried about their depth,” Gould added.
“If that (depth) is what it is, then you start to question it there.
“They’re always a bit slow [to start the season], but not like that. Not like what I saw on the weekend, that was quite stark for me.
“They’ve got the class and ability to turn it around quickly, and they certainly have the coach.”
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