Roosters become NRL’s kings of the clutch
THE Sydney Roosters have gone from playing like headless chooks to kings of the clutch in 12 short months.
Heading into Saturday’s final-round NRL clash with Gold Coast, Trent Robinson’s men have a chance to sew up second spot after winning a record-equalling 10 matches by six points or less this season.
It’s a stat which demonstrates how far they’ve come after losing eight games by the same margin in 2016 on their way to finishing 15th.
Their 16-14 win against fellow title contenders Cronulla last week equalled the mark for most victories by six points or less. According to Fox Sports Stats, that record is jointly held by the 2008 Cronulla, 2007 North Queensland, 1980 Canterbury and 1948 Western Suburbs teams, which they have a chance to go past on Saturday against the Titans.
“The boys and Robbo identified last year. They lost a few close ones last year and worked on it in the pre-season and it’s come out to help us in some of those games,” Roosters five-eighth Luke Keary said.
“Obviously Junior (Mitchell Pearce) has finished a few of those games off for us. We’re pretty confident when the game goes down to the wire.”
So what’s been the difference? For starters, Pearce is back – after sitting out the first eight rounds last year for his Australia Day meltdown – while goalkicking fullback Michael Gordon has made a difference. While they struggled to find a consistent goalkicker last year – with Jackson Hastings, Sio Siua Taukeiaho, Latrell Mitchell and Blake Ferguson sharing duties – Gordon has booted 62 of 80 at 77.5 per cent in 2017.
“It comes down to talking about it. It’s hard to replicate what happens in a game at training,” Keary said.