At one stage, it looked like they may have been down and out but it was resolve that got the Sydney Roosters over the line as they scored two tries in the final five minutes and snatched the win from the Brisbane Broncos side.
Coming from eight points down, the Roosters won 30-26 in front of a spirited and vocal crowd in Brisbane, in a game that saw the Roosters start quite badly due to a mass amount of sloppy errors and penalties.
There were highlights for Brisbane both on and off the field despite the loss, with Ben Hunt producing the sort of performance Broncos fans have been wanting to see from in ages.
Off the field, it was all about retired star Jharal Yow Yeh who received a very warm reception by the Broncos faithful as his jersey number was retired and his career honoured.
The game itself was a see-sawing affair, as dropped balls and penalties by both sides ultimately led to points, before the Roosters pulled a rabbit out of the hat and scored two tries late on to seal a victory.
Despite the narrow loss, Broncos coach Anthony Griffin was pleased that his side gave it their all but was disappointed that they lost in the last five minutes.
“It was disappointing. They were just too good in that last five minutes – we’ve got to be better defensively obviously,” Griffin said.
“At eight points up with five to go I still knew there was a long way to go.
“I thought we gave our all and couldn’t be faulted, but we’ve still got a lot of development to do in some of the finer parts of our game.
“Tonight we finished with a bad taste in our mouth but we were better again than last week. Unfortunately we’ve come up against a much better team tonight and that’s why they’re premiers.”
With effort always a key trait for any player and NRL side, Griffin thought that all of his players performed well.
“He’s getting better and better every week, [but] I was happy with the whole 17 – the effort level and everyone’s intentions and where we are going – it’s very positive,” he said.
As for the Roosters, it was an uncharacteristic performance from them, as they completed just 21 of 31 sets and missed 30 tackles but for coach Trent Robinson, the talent of his side shone through in the end.
“It’s great to get two points, never complain about getting two points, but that wasn’t the footy that a coach is happy with,” Robinson said.
“I said to the guys that I thought we won on talent and not hard work and that’s not what you want to see.
“Coming to Brisbane and playing a team that has won two in a row, it’s hard to come up here and win so it’s a credit to the boys, they played some really good footy to win. As soon as we applied some pressure we scored but that’s not the ‘d’ we expect from our team, that’s not good enough.”
With the Roosters hoping to go back-to-back, captain Anthony Minichiello highlighted the resolve and spirit of their side to fight hard until the end.
“We spoke about it behind the goal-line,” said Minichiello.
“We believe in our structure and we know it works so all we wanted to do was get the ball back and put some pressure on and keep the ball in play. We did that in the last six or so minutes and come away with two tries.”
3. Ben Hunt
2. Michael Jennings
1. Sam Moa