It took the Roosters 17 minutes to click, but when they did, they were simply unbeatable in putting Manly through the cleaners, finishing 46-4 winners at home.
The Tricolours opened the scoring in just their second set of the game, after Luke Keary, on the short side, put up a bomb which James Tedesco followed through, caught cleanly, beat Reuben Garrick before falling over the line to score. Siosiua Taukeiaho hooked the conversion attempt from out wide.
Just 8 minutes later, Manly hit back thanks to a great piece of work by their returned champion Kieran Foran, who held up a pass to create the extra man on the short side, which allowed Garrick to dive over in the left corner. Garrick was unable to convert his try.
The turning point of the first half came in the 17th minute when Manly gave the Roosters a 7 tackle set. The Roosters marched upfield where Keary sent a brilliant short ball to the lead running Sitili Tupouniua, who stepped between two defenders on the right side, and then stepped back infield to beat Dylan Walker and score. Taukeiaho converted.
The Roosters crossed again five minutes later, when Jake Friend, who was 2 metres from the Manly line, passed long from dummy half to Tedesco, who stepped inside to beat 2 defenders, then stepped right to get between another two defenders and crash over to score to the right of the posts. Taukeiaho converted again.
Another 6 minutes passed before another Roosters try was added, after they put the ball through the hands on the right side, where Daniel Tupou held up a pass for Brett Morris, who then bumped out of two tackles to score in the corner. Adam Keighran failed to convert from touch.
Right on halftime, the Roosters scored again when some perfect draw, catch and passing resulted in Brett Morris reaching out to score a good try in the right corner. Keighran nailed the sideline conversion, to give the Roosters a 26-4 lead at halftime.
An energetic start to first half saw neither side getting the upper hand. In the 44th minute Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was put on report for striking with his elbow at Curtis Sironen.
A few minutes later and Jake Friend copped a head knock while attempting to tackle Andrew Davey, later failing to pass his HIA>
In the 52nd minute, the Roosters extended their lead after Tupou got outside his man and ran down the right touchline before passing inside to Keary who sent the ball along to Tedesco, who scored his third try. Tedesco then attempted to convert but sprayed it a long way wide.
Just after an hour into the game, Manly finally got an attacking set, but an intercept by Brett Morris saw him run 80 metres to score his third try of the game. Tedesco's sideline conversion attempt was much better than his first, but still missed. The Roosters lead remaining at 30 points.
In the 71st minute, the Roosters crossed again after Taukeiaho drifted left and dropped a short ball to Angus Crichton, who was running straight and he smashed through the weak Manly goal-line defence to score to the left of the posts. Taukeiaho converted to bring up the 40 point mark.
With just 2 minutes remaining in the game, the Roosters added yet another try, when Josh Morris straightened and runs back infield onto a Tedesco pass, then blasted through the feeble edge defence to race 30 metres and score. Taukeiaho converted.
Next week the Roosters head to Campbelltown on Sunday for a date with the Tigers, while a day earlier Manly host Souths at Brookvale.