If you ask Eels captain Nathan Hindmarsh, even he does not know why his side could not play like this at the start of the year – not that he is complaining about winning, though.
The win means that the Eels have won three of their last four matches, with caretaker coach Brad Arthur seeming to instill some magic into the line-up – though Hindmarsh cannot pinpoint why they are only on a purple patch, as the season winds down.
“It is good to win – pity it wasn’t there at the start of the year. I don’t know why, but we are winning games so it’s a good feeling,” Hindmarsh said.
“I don’t know (what the difference is). We have been working on the same thing all year and I don’t have an answer why it is but I will take it – we are winning games. That is enough for me.”
It was a game that went back and forth, as the Eels jumped out to an 18-10 lead at half-time, before the Roosters rallied back to take the lead at 22-18.
Though it was a man who has been under fire for a lot of the season in Chris Sandow – that applied the pressure, resulting in two tries of his own, from his own crafty work.
With the Eels forced to dig deep, for Hindmarsh, he said that their fightback was brought about by their willingness to enjoy the footy they were playing.
“I have made a conscious decision – win, lose or draw – to try and enjoy myself and try and soak up the last couple of weeks,” he said.
“I think we are in a position where everyone can do that. The wooden spoon is still around but we are not pushing for finals so everything is just so much more relaxed.”
The Roosters, who are not out of wooden spoon contention yet, were accused by their coach Brian Smith of, “not playing hard enough”.
“In the end, it was very disappointing,” said Smith.
“There wasn’t enough quality in our performance out there – not enough strength, not enough speed. You put in a performance like that when you don’t play hard enough.
“We didn’t work hard enough to get the points.”