League: Roosters no paltry threat

Jerome Ropati and his fellow Warriors hope to repeat the form they showed against the Broncos last Sunday. Picture / Paul Estcourt

The danger for the Warriors as they contemplate their confrontation with a well-under-strength Sydney Roosters is underestimating their opponents.

The Roosters have elevated Shaun Foley from the Jersey Flegg teenage competition to fill the fullback spot usually occupied by world's best, Anthony Minichiello, who is injured, or his back-up Amos Roberts, who was suspended by the judiciary this week.

Foley will be a target, as will be five-eighth Josh Lewis, who comes up from premier league, though he has experienced finals football at the Flegg level.

The Roosters have shifted Jamie Soward forward from the fullback spot he held last weekend to halfback to cover for Brett Finch, who is away with the New South Wales side. Premier league hooker Heath L'Strange gets a start to replace Craig Wing, also with NSW.

The last time the Warriors faced a seriously depleted side was in round 10 in Wollongong - but the Dragons won 22-16 despite missing eight regular first-graders.

If ever the Roosters were ready for plucking it is now, but Warriors coach Ivan Cleary, who was in the coaching staff at the Sydney club for two years, said he knew how they reacted when they had their backs to the wall and that those selected would come up with their best.

The attitude had been right against the Dragons despite the result, he said, and the Warriors would not be silly enough to think the Roosters would be a pushover.

The kicking game will be crucial and former Rooster Grant Rovelli needs to repeat the performance from last weekend against the Broncos.

It is generally a problem for the Warriors that they play too much at the wrong end of the field because they do not have a player with a long-kicking game nor one who can find grass more often than chest. Cleary said they did well against the Broncos because everyone had a turn, working as a kicking unit, which meant the opposition didn't always know who to target. Jerome Ropati had some deficiencies but he was up against the best five-eighth in the game in Darren Lockyer and had not been disgraced. The Warriors' last away game, against the Sharks, had been their worst of the season and the memory lingered, Cleary said.

Meanwhile Roosters coach Ricky Stuart has been telling his team, average age 23, to take their chances. He noted the decreasing age of players and also the fact that other teams always lifted against the Roosters because of their finals record.

The Warriors snared the Roosters' up-and-coming fullback Aidan Kirk mid-week and it appears Roosters centre Ryan Cross is off to rugby, his manager John Fordham indicating Cross had a choice of teams to go to and would not be staying in league.

Cleary said Kirk's arrival was unrelated to the club's position on Brent Webb, though the latter appears certain to take a bigger pay-packet in Super League. Kirk was bought to provide fullback depth.