Forget the battle of the fullbacks. Forget Teddy and Turbo. The only show that mattered in the first half of the Roosters-Manly clash on Friday night – aside from the spectacular lightning above the SCG – came from the Chooks halfbacks.
The Roosters pair – Sam Walker wearing the No.6 jersey, with Keary in the seven – were well out of sorts in last week’s defeat to Newcastle, but looked imperious tonight, tearing the Sea Eagles apart before halftime. The 26-10 fulltime score made it look perhaps closer than it was.
The main worry for Trent Robinson might be Connor Watson, who left after an hour with a shoulder injury, while Sitili Tupouniua (concussion) and Joey Manu (knee) will also be monitored.
The coach was impressed with his halves pairing and how they learned from last week’s defeat to Newcastle.
“They all had really good conversations during the week and knew whose role was which,” said Robinson.
“We saw that when Sammy ran it in midfield and got tackled on one of the first sets and on the second set, he’s ended up setting up that try running again.
“That’s that subtle difference on the five-eighth compared to the organisation of the half. I felt like they did that well.”
Walker broke the game wide open for the opener, stepping and running to put Drew Hutchinson over, before slipping Nat Butcher in for the third.
Keary got in on the act later in the half, using the excellent work of Victor Radley to create a gap for Sitili Tupouniua to cross untouched. In between, Daniel Tupou had pulled off a trademark dive at the corner from a James Tedesco pass.
Late in the second half, the crowning moment came as Walker challenged the line, cut back to Keary and he put Nat Butcher through to score.
It could have been worse for the Sea Eagles: Walker nearly created an early try of the season contender, only for a late finger from Jason Saab to deny Tupounuia and paul Momirovski had another wiped off by the bunker.
The 22-0 score at halftime could have been far more and, though the Sea Eagles were better after the break, the torrential rainstorm that hit as the siren went removed most of the chance of a fightback and led to a more attritional second stanza.
For Manly, tonight was deja vu all over again. After being comprehensively outplayed at Penrith last week, they found themselves again on the wrong side of a battering.
The 68/32 possession split at the break said everything. It wasn’t that they didn’t create chances – Tom Trbojevic blew a simple chance to ground a Daly Cherry-Evans kick – but with so little ball, they were always up against it.
While the obvious comparison for Des Hasler will be last week’s loss to the Panthers, this bore more resemblance to the battering that the Sea Eagles copped at the hands of the Roosters in Round 1 last year, when they were on the wrong side of a 46-4 scoreline.
It was not all plain sailing for the Roosters after the break. With the pitch now sodden, Manly managed to wrestle their way back through a close range Karl Lawton try, before the Tricolours lost Tuponiua to a concussion and Victor Radley found himself, yet again, on report.
The penalty count mounted against Easts, but in true Trent Robinson fashion, they were able to withstand multiple sets on their own line. It took a late piece of razzle dazzle in garbage time for Manly to get their second via Cherry-Evans, but by then, it was far too late.
“You can always find excuses with possession which is quite easy to see, but with our start and we knew they were going to come out of the blocks and we didn’t match that,” said Hasler.
“I think we have got to manufacture that start better. That way you can do something about the momentum with the ball.
“I’m not going to use the possession count and the lack of ball as an excuse. We need to find a stronger first half.
“We are going to have to compete harder. It is as simple as that and we are aware of that. It is something that we are not going to hide from.”