Roosters got plenty from Warner’s battle theory
DAVID Warner might be on the outer of Australian cricket, but he was invited into the inner sanctum of the Sydney Roosters by coach Trent Robinson to share the secrets that made him a Test match star.
Earlier this year, when the Roosters were still finding their groove as premiership heavyweights, Robinson had Warner speak to the group about the science of controlling the battle.
For Warner, the discipline and knowledge that went into orchestrating a game’s pace was about picking the right time to launch a blitzkrieg, when to defend, when to counter-attack and the body language required to manipulate the opposition.
For a Roosters spine out to sink South Sydney tonight at Allianz Stadium, their quest to take the game by the horns in the big-time pressurecooker of knockout finals has been about flow, connection, working to a kick and when to pull the trigger.
Roosters five-eighth Luke Keary says he has never worked harder on anything in his career than the time and focus he has invested into his combination with halfback Cooper Cronk and the rest of the spine.
The exact nature of Warner’s meeting of the minds at Roosters HQ was kept a closely guarded secret, but Keary said the Roosters were inspired by the star opener’s story.
“He’s a good dude. He’s a really mentally tough character with everything he’s been through and his performances through his whole career. I got out of it that he’s really tough,” Keary said.
“It was more just a yarn about cricket and footy. He’s a Roosters man and a few of us are big cricket fans.”
In a major warning sign for the Rabbitohs, Keary said the Roosters’ halves combined better in the weekone finals win over Cronulla than they had all year.
For the first half of the season, coach Robinson played down the difficulty his key players were having gelling together, but Keary revealed the struggle was real.
“To walk in and just say something is going to click, I don’t know what people’s expectations were,” he said.
“We changed our structures every few weeks to see what was going to work and what wasn’t ... but I think we’ve found a style that we play best through the whole park.
“We had to put hours in on the field ... I feel like we’ve done the work. I wouldn’t say it’s right yet, but over the next (two) weeks we’ll find out.”