Roosters premiership defence starts in perfect style

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Parramatta Eels v Sydney Roosters

The Sydney Roosters have started their NRLW title defence in perfect fashion with a 38-16 victory over the Parramatta Eels at Commbank Stadium.

Starting fast, the Roosters ran in three tries in the space of four minutes when Jaymie Fressard was put over in the corner after some strong work from Isabelle Kelly who set it up. The next two tries for the Roosters both came through Isabelle Kelly one through pure brute strength and one through skill.

The first of Kelly's double came with a hard running effort that saw Kelly pull out one of the greatest fends that you will ever see as she sent the Eels defence backwards to score. The second of her double came when she was able to keep her momentum going towards the line and could've got an offload away but just went for the line to score.

The three tries were all unconverted by Zahara Temara which meant that the Eels were still within touching distance of the Roosters. This proved to be the case when Parramatta was able to score when Seli Mailangi showed a dummy and the Roosters defence just opened the door for the Eels number 9 to score one of the easiest tries of her career.

The Eels then were able to level the scores when captain Simaima Taufa scored after a kick from Brooke Walker was played at by the Roosters and the Eels captain was on the spot to take the kick and fight her way to the line and get the ball down. Both tries were converted to level the scores.

Approaching halftime and off the back of a successful captain's challenge, the Roosters took back the lead when Jess Sergis was able to score after some amazing work by veteran Sam Bremner to keep the ball alive and find the star centre to score, Temara converted and the Roosters held a 6-point lead in the break.

Parramatta hit back straight after the resumption of play when Vanessa Foliaki found a gap in the Roosters defensive line to score in her return to the NRLW. The missed conversion hurt the Eels as they trailed by 2 points.

Leading by just 2, the Roosters then stepped up a gear and just took control of the game starting with Olivia Kernick who continued her try-scoring form from last season when the second rower posed a threat and was too big for the Eels defence to stop as she scored.

The Roosters then bombed another try when Keilee Joseph lost the ball short of the line but it didn't sting for too long when new recruit Shaniah Power ran a strong line on the last tackle after the Eels defence stood back expecting a kick that didn't come.

An offside Jess Sergis then cost the Roosters, but a Parramatta knock-on gave the tricolours a scrum in attacking position and absolute perfection in attack saw Sam Bremner who could've scored herself finding Jayme Fressard to score in the corner.

The Roosters put the icing on the cake when Sam Bremner had a hand in another try when Leianne Tufuga scored after some good work from Olivia Kernick and Sam Bremner which gave Tufuga a try after she was denied earlier.

Parramatta had a try inside the final denied after Rikeya Horne went into touch and that sealed the defeat for the Blue and Gold.

Next weekend, the Eels play host again at Commbank Stadium when they host the Dragons meanwhile, the Roosters head up to what could be a season-shaping battle when they head to Suncorp Stadium.