Sam Walker has shown why there is a big future ahead of him as the Sydney Roosters scored a 26-18 come from behind victory over the Cronulla Sharks at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The Cronulla Sharks started the faster of the two sides as they targeted the Roosters right-hand defence which brought success very early. The Sharks opened the scoring just four minutes into the contest when Mawene Hiroti was able to get over the line in the corner. Chad Townsend's conversion gave the Sharks an early 6-0 lead.
Thing looked shaky for the Roosters as the Sharks continued to mount attacking pressure and the boys from the Shire were able to get across the stripe when Will Kennedy went at the line and managed to carry three players over the line to score. Chad Townsend's conversion was a poor one and couldn't add the extras.
The negatives came for the Sharks as Wade Graham was forced from the field after a head knock for which he subsequently failed his HIA. The Roosters were able to get over with the first piece of magic by Sam Walker with a floating pass out to Brett Morris gave the veteran a 1-on-1 against Mawene Hiroti for which the veteran had too much strength to score.
A brain snap from Jared Waerea-Hargreaves gave the Sharks an opportunity to extend their lead out to 8 points on the stroke of half-time which they took advantage of and the Sharks went into the break leading 12-4.
The injury news hit both sides with Freddy Lussick suffering a suspected fractured arm during the first half whilst for the Sharks things went further downhill on the injury front as they lost Josh Dugan who had also failed his HIA.
Cronulla despite their injury toll added another try to open a 14-point lead when some cross-field play from the Sharks saw the ball go right through Toby Rudolf and Mawene Hiroti before coming back centre-field where Chad Townsend kicked for Jesse Ramien who took a good catch and somehow got an offload away for Jack Williams to score. Townsend's conversion gave the Sharks an 18-4 lead.
The Roosters needed to find a spark if they wanted to come back into the game and it was Drew Hutchison who found it for the Bondi boys as he ran through some poor defence to score. The conversion was successful and the lead was still 8 for the Sharks.
Sam Walker stepped up for the Roosters with some pure magic as he set Daniel Tupou up with a beautiful floating pass and the NSW winger scored. The conversion was waved away and the Roosters trailed by 4.
After setting-up the previous play, Sam Walker put his side level when he charged for the line through some poor defence as the Sharks defence was again caught in no-mans land as Walker was able to slide through. The conversion from Siosiua Taukeiaho put the Roosters in front to score.
The Sharks looked gassed by this point and again Sam Walker's magic was on show when his skill levels were on show as he again floated a magical ball out to Brett Morris under the pressure of 3 Sharks defenders for Morris to get a second. The conversion from Taukeiaho sealed the victory for the Roosters.
Next weekend, the Roosters have a tough task as they head to Melbourne for a clash against the Storm at AAMI Park on Friday night, whilst the Sharks also play next Friday as they head to Newcastle for the early game.