The Sydney Roosters are 80 minutes away from their first NRL grand final in seven years after fighting past Cronulla in a 46-10 semifinal win.
Trent Robinson’s men will play the Dolphins in a preliminary final after being made to work for victory against the Sharks at Sydney Football Stadium.
Halfback Daly Cherry-Evans was placed on report for tripping Cronulla’s Teig Wilton on Saturday and, aside from the fitness of Sam Walker, is likely to be the only question mark heading into next Friday’s meeting with the Dolphins.
Queensland number seven Walker underwent ankle surgery less than a month ago but coach Trent Robinson said the team is “pretty confident” he will be back to face the Dolphins.
“He hasn’t trained with us yet but he’s had really good progressions,” Robinson said.
Just as everything fell into place for the Roosters, who also welcomed back Angus Crichton from a long injury lay-off on Saturday, just about everything fell apart for Cronulla.
Halfback Nicho Hynes failed a head injury assessment after copping a bang en route to Lindsay Collins’ second-minute opening try.
Nicho Hynes was ruled out due to a second-minute head knock. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
And then centre Mawene Hiroti went off with a knee injury after 20 minutes after crashing over the dead-ball line.
It was little wonder the Roosters put a depleted Sharks outfit to the sword, piling on 24 points in the final half an hour.
Cronulla is now one of just two teams in the NRL era to reach five straight finals series without making a grand final, and has not been returned to the last game of the season despite making the top eight in nine of 10 seasons since.
“We’ve been up for five years now with the same group of guys and a good portion of those are leaving,” Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon said.
Cameron McInnes, Sione Katoa, Siosifa Talakai, Jesse Ramien and Mawene Hiroti are some of the core members of the team on their way out, but Fitzgibbon said it would not be a complete rebuild for the club.
“Everyone thinks we need a reset or rebuild; we’ll just keep going, we’ve got some guys ready to go,” he said.
“We won’t be going anywhere.”
Look back at all the action in our live blog below and check out all the stats in the full ScoreCentre.
NRL semifinal live: Sydney Roosters vs Cronulla Sharks
We’ll leave you there
Make sure you return tomorrow for the Warriors-Knights blockbuster from a packed Eden Park.
Until next time, enjoy all the sport.
Roosters ‘pretty confident’ Sam Walker will be back next week
Roosters coach Trent Robinson says it was “a good day”, with he and James Tedesco reserving special praise for Daly Cherry-Evans, who missed a chance to ice the qualifying final against the Panthers last week.
“He’s got plenty of experience, he’s nailed those many time but he’s gone through his hardship as well. He was our leader tonight,” captain Tedesco says.
“Chez doesn’t hold onto things, he goes out and executes.”
But the good news is Sam Walker is a good chance of coming back next week.
“Pretty confident from what we’ve seen. He hasn’t trained with us yet but he’s had really good progressions.”
And they’ll need his attacking flair against the red-hot Phins.
The Sharks ‘won’t be going anywhere’
Cronulla coach Craig Fitzgibbon says the second-half blowout was basically the price of the fight his team showed in the first 40 minutes.
“What possibly could’ve went wrong went wrong and then it was like a ‘hang on’ energy for the rest of the game.”
He’s asked about Daly Cherry-Evans not being sin-binned after being penalised for a trip on Teig Wilton in a try-scoring position, and implies the Sharks have been dudded for “six straight weeks”, but stops short of really saying anything.
Cronulla is one of just two teams in the NRL era to reach five straight finals series without making a grand final, and haven’t been back despite making the top eight in nine of 10 seasons since the 2016 premiership.
“We’ve been up for five years now with the same group of guys and a good portion of those are leaving. I’m forever grateful for their service, punching above their weight for a long time now.”
Cameron McInnes, Sione Katoa, Siosifa Talakai, Jesse Ramien and Mawene Hiroti are all leaving the club, but Fitzgibbon says it won’t be a complete rebuild for the club.
“Everyone thinks we need a reset or rebuild; we’ll just keep going, we’ve got some guys ready to go. We won’t be going anywhere.”
Cameron McInnes agrees.
“There won’t be any dip. I really believe the best is ahead for the club.”
When is the Dolphins-Roosters preliminary final?
The Dolphins and Roosters will face off for a spot in the NRL grand final on Friday, September 25, from 7:50pm AEST at Brisbane’s Lang Park.
Sharks great signs off
Cameron McInnes has played his last NRL game, for now at least.
And he says the overarching feeling right now is frustration, rather than sadness.
“We had all intentions to come out tonight and play the way we wanted to, but from the start things didn’t go our way,” he tells ABC Sport.
“It just got a bit quick on us and then we fought our way back in, but the ending’s probably the most frustrating part.”
For those of you keeping score, the Roosters scored 22 of their 46 points in the last 19 minutes of the game.
The Sharks weren’t helped by the injuries, but things really unravelled as the fatigue set in.
“Things move quickly, you’ve got to get on with it, it’s not ideal. It all adds up. They were just too good.”
FULL-TIME: The Roosters storm into the preliminary finals
It ends up a dominant 46-10 victory for the Sydney Roosters, who progress to a preliminary final against the Dolphins up in Brisbane.
With Nicho Hynes out since the second minute with a concussion, Mawene Hiroti out for the majority of the game and Braydon Trindall carrying a serious shoulder injury, the Roosters honestly should have put this game away earlier, but they really stormed home in this one.
78′ Getting silly now from the Roosters
They’re doing what they want, but Daly Cherry-Evans’s kick across the field shows it’s not all roses as it flies into touch in the in-goal.
Marky Mark gets another one
The Cronulla defence has nothing left and the Roosters are toying with them as DCE steps past a few in the middle, flicks it to Hugo Savala, who finds Tedesco, to Toia.
He beats a man and grubbers through for himself, but the ball holds up to beat him and the Sharks. But of course Mark Nawaqanitawase is there to clean up with a gorgeous pick-up to score.
The Roosters are just having fun now
They’re throwing the ball around and this time it’s a lovely outside-in play from DCE to Siua Wong to James Tedesco, who bobbles as he reverses and spins through the defence to score.
Rob Toia flies high and adds another for the Roosters
That will end this one as a contest as Rob Toia steams past the Sharks and outleaps Ronaldo Mulitalo to score a spectacular try.
Mark Nawaqanitawase is over for the Roosters
A lovely bit of interplay between Reece Robson, Victor Radley and Daly Cherry-Evans is beautifully summed up by a bullet-like long ball by DCE out to a flying Mark Nawaqanitawase to dive over on the right wing.
61′ Billy Smith saves the day
Billy Burns hits the line hard and works to get his arms free. He offloads to Braydon Trindall 2 metres short of the line, but before he can secure it, Billy Smith arrives and knocks it loose.
60′ Teig Wilton crosses dubiously, DCE on report
The Sharks back rower is adamant he’s scored a bullocking try, but Adam Gee says no try because of a double movement.
Gee is correct, but before the double movement, Daly Cherry-Evans tripped him.
58′ Sharks still a chance
The Roosters are pressing, but Rob Toia knocks on a high bullet pass by Daly Cherry-Evans.
The 14-point deficit feels like a lot, but with over 20 minutes left and the Roosters seemingly incapable of completing a set at the moment, Cronulla is still in the fight.
Mike called it
We must be due for a bit of Marky Mark magic…
– Mike
I think you might be the magic one, Mike.
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THAT IS MAGICAL FOOTY!!
The Roosters score an absolute worldie through Connor Watson under the posts, but it won’t surprise you to know the magic started with Mark Nawaqanitawase out on the right wing.
The right-side shift found the dynamic winger, who again looked destined for the sideline, but he once again flings a perfectly directed behind-the-back pass to Rob Toia.
He offloads to James Tedesco, who offloads to no-one. But Siua Wong scoops the bouncing ball off his toes and fires it left to Hugo Savala. He finds Watson, who looks off numbers to the left, beats Sifa Talakai and KL Iro with footwork and bumps off Blayke Brailey to crash over for a ridiculous try.
50′ Rob Toia is crunched
The right-side shift calls for quick hands and Rob Toia obliges with a bat-on to Mark Nawaqanitawase. But the Roosters centre cops a huge jamming tackle into his ribs by Ronaldo Mulitalo for his trouble.
48′ Another bad kick by Trindall
Braydon Trindall’s playmaking has won the Sharks more than a few games, but this time it’s brought them unstuck as a shorter cross-field kick is again too deep and Rob Toia marks well above his head as Ronaldo Mulitalo arrives.
47′ The Roosters can’t get out of their own way
Another error, this time by Nat Butcher, who just fumbles as he prepares for a hit-up, and the Sharks feed a scrum 25 metres out.
The Roosters should be dominating this game and they can’t stop making errors.
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