They are a team that are decimated by injuries, and it showed, after the Wests Tigers just could not muster up enough of an attacking arsenal, against a Roosters side determined to bounce back.

For the Roosters, it was the barnstorming work from young prop Martin Kennedy that really caught they eye of Roosters coach Brian Smith, and he singled out the kid for some well-deserved praise.

“Martin was great and had some awesome carries … Marty’s done okay for us, he had a pretty good season last year as a young bloke making his way first year in,” Smith said.

“Confidence is a big thing for those young guys.”

What made the win even sweeter, is that the Roosters did it with only 12 men on the field in the last few minutes, after Anthony Minichello was sent to the sin-bin for impeding Robbie Farah from playing the ball correctly.

The defensive effort of the Roosters impressed Smith immensely, and he praised all of his players for their sturdy play in keeping the Tigers to only 6 points.

“The guys were fantastic, even when we went down to 12 men everybody dug in and came up with the sort of defensive effort that we’d like to see every week,” Smith said.

“I hope that’s our standard, I thought we did so much to hang in well with the ‘D’ (defence) but put on some really good attacking plays as well.

“That’s our goal from now on … to build on that.”

Minichello was also full of praise for young Kennedy, saying he is one of the best young forwards he has ever seen.

“He was awesome, his running game was great, he will definitely be a representative player, his work ethic is great, he is always willing to learn and is a smart kid,” Minichiello said.

“He is up there with the best I have seen, he is 120 kilos and can get across the park, he is pretty quick and has got good leg speed.”

On Minichello, he was disappointed when sin-binned, and says that it was actually Tigers hooker Robbie Farah who got him binned in the first place.

“I thought he got up to go and run again so I grabbed his arm to get the ball and he sort of let go of it and it looked like a bit of rake from my part and Robbie said `send him off’ and he did!” he said.

“I was disappointed to leave the team one down when you are under pressure but our defence was outstanding today.

“I was filthy when Toddy ran into the ref, I was coming around to the right-hand side, if he wasn’t there I could have been away for another try.”

Dally M Points

3 Martin Kennedy

2 Anthony Minichello

1 Todd Carney

By ricky

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