Sydney Roosters veteran winger Brett Morris

The Sydney Roosters have demolished the Brisbane Broncos, racking up a record-breaking 59-0 score line in what was the Broncos’ biggest loss in their thirty-three-year history.

The Roosters suffered a pre-game setback with star fullback James Tedesco missing the flight to Brisbane after failing the NRL’s tight biosecurity testing.

Despite the loss of their most potent attacking weapon, the Roosters were the first to strike, taking advantage of an Anthony Milford error to score through Josh Morris.

They extended their lead with their very next possession, marching downfield and scoring on the opposite side of the field as Joseph Manu finished a sweet left-to-right shift.

The Roosters completed all twelve of their opening sets, completing their first eight before the Broncos could complete three.

Victor Radley cashed in on the extra possession, running through a gap left by debutant Corey Paix and crashing over Jamayne Isaako for the third try of the match.

The Roosters then backed up their attacking efforts on the defensive end as Brett Morris continued his scrambling antics from last weekend to ruin the Broncos only line-break of the half.

Angus Crichton continued the onslaught as the Broncos defence began to capitulate, before Kyle Flanagan finished a Victor Radley break to make it 28-0 after thirty-two minutes.

A Luke Keary field goal put the icing on a sweet first half for the Roosters, entering the sheds with twelve more completed sets, a 40% advantage in possession and 644 more running metres.

It took little over four minutes for Isaac Liu to restart the party in the second half, handing the ball to Keary to run fifty metres and push the margin past thirty.

Brisbane finally demonstrated some semblance of defensive resolve through a strong ten-minute stand, but that ended as Jesse Arthars was sent to the sin-bin in the fifty-fifth minute.

That paved the way for Lindsay Collins to stroll over before Angus Crichton burrowed his way through some soft line-defence.

Daniel Tupou was quiet on the try-scoring front for most of the match but was ultimately responsible for bringing up the half century after strolling over with nine minutes to go.

It was the first time that the Broncos have been kept to nil at Suncorp Stadium, but the Roosters weren’t finished yet.

With Brett Morris scoring to extend the margin to 59, the Roosters condemned the Broncos to their largest ever losing margin, beating the 58-0 shellacking they received in last year’s finals series.

After the game, Roosters coach Trent Robinson was pleased with the way his side set up the win in the first half, crediting his forwards for laying a great platform for his backs to run off.

“We came with a good attitude to start the game… it was nothing spectacular, but we showed some good execution” he said.

Meanwhile, Broncos coach Anthony Seibold admitted that his side was ‘totally outclassed’ and acknowledged the striking similarity of this week’s performance to last week’s loss to Parramatta.

“It was like Groundhog Day… we just had no field position or possession, and it didn’t look like we were going to defend any errors we made” he stated.

Brisbane face another tough challenge next week against Manly on Thursday night, while the Roosters advance to play the Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon.

NRL News Player of the Game:

3 Points – Brett Morris – Was thrust into the fullback role after the loss of Tedesco and wound back the clock with a vintage performance that included two tries and three try assists.

Played as close to Tedesco’s calibre as Trent Robinson could have hoped.

2 Points – Victor Radley – One try, two try assists and one line break for the man they call ‘The Inflictor’. Looked dangerous all night until suffering a gruesome arm injury in the closing stages.

1 Point – Luke Keary – Steered the side around to perfection in the absence of James Tedesco.

Capped off the night with a try and two try assists.

Sydney Roosters utility Victor Radley

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