The misery continued to be piled high for the Canberra Raiders as they were comprehensively outplayed in their 44-16 defeat to the red-hot Sydney Roosters at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford.
The Canberra Raiders started the game fast when Josh Hodgson opened the scoring for the Raiders when the Englishman chased through an Elliott Whitehead grubber kick to score for the Green Machine. The fast-start for the Canberrans continued when Corey Horsburgh was able to score next to the uprights and after Sam Williams converted, the Raiders lead 10-0.
Things then unravelled significantly for the Raiders as the Roosters put on three tries in the space of six minutes to wipe out the Canberra lead. The first of the Roosters tries came just after the half hour mark when Joseph Suaalii was able to score his first NRL try when Caleb Aekins lost the ball and Suaalii swooped to score.
The Roosters added a second try when Lachlan Lam went through thanks to a burst from James Tedesco who had just returned to the field after some treatment for a hip injury. The third of the Roosters tries came through Sitili Tupouniua who ran a good line at close range to get over. Adam Keighran added his second conversion of the night to give the Roosters a 16-10 lead.
The Raiders had to spend the first six minutes of the second half with 12 men after Ryan James was sent to the sin bin late in the first half by Grant Atkins and the Raiders did well enough, only conceding the one try which saw Daniel Tupou with open space on the outside of the Raiders defence to score.
The tricolours continued their momentum when Joey Manu was able to pull off a 1-on-1 strip and then in seemingly slow motion, gather the ball, adjust his grip and slam the ball down to extend the Roosters lead after another conversion from Adam Keighran.
The Green Machine looked to stem the momentum as Ryan James was able to spin his way out of a tackle and get to the line but despite the converted try, it did very little to halt the momentum of the Roosters.
The Roosters next try was a thing of absolute beauty with Joey Manu flying over two Raiders defenders to catch the ball and take it in to score. Adam Keighran added his fifth conversion of the night to extend the lead. Josh Morris continued to amaze NRL fans as he gathered a bouncing ball above his head, juggled it and then put the ball down behind his back. Morris was denied by the bunker just minutes later when he lost the ball in the process of scoring.
With just over 10 minutes to go, the Roosters capped off their night when Sitilli Tupouniua scored his second after being set up with Joseph Suaalii was able to draw in defenders and put Tupouniua over outwide. Adam Keighran sealed the conversion with a kick from wide out.
The Raiders were denied by the bunker in the dying seconds when Sebastian Kris was ruled to have simultaneously grounded the ball on the line and corner post in the process of scoring the try.
Next weekend, both sides have the luxury of having the bye before the Roosters travel to the Gold Coast to take on the Titans whilst the Raiders host the Broncos at GIO Stadium.