Four tries from the Morris brothers in a first half blitz helped the Sydney Roosters to a 38-16 result against the Wests Tigers tonight at Leichhardt Oval.
Wests Tigers finals hopes were dashed in a 20-point blitz between the seventh and 25th minute. The Roosters ran in four tries - three of those went to Morris' - the other was to winger Matt Ikuvalu as the Leichhardt faithful were staring down the barrel of another lost season.
After their 18-point loss to the Storm, the Roosters flexed on the Tigers in the first half to move back into the top four. Former Tiger James Tedesco was back to his skillful best and Kyle Flanagan was a sharpshooter in his return kicking five goals.
There was a brief fightback straight after the half-time break. Jacob Liddle, in his second game back, crashed over quickly followed by Adam Doueihi line-run to make it 20-12. That brought the small but vocal crowd back into the contest, believing that ninth might not be their destiny in 2020.
Roosters withstood the onslaught, defended their line well and hit back after Doueihi's kick rolled dead. The seven tackle set allowed them to roll upfield, produce an offload from Siosiua Taukeiaho to put the contest to bed. Joseph Manu and Josh Morris added further scores to blow out the scoreline to 38-12.
Tigers found a late consolation from David Nofoaluma to take his tally to 13 tries for the season. 2020 will be another lost season for the Tigers, the joint-venture still searching for their first finals appearance in five years.