THE Roosters will still win the premiership.
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It’s a big call, given they have to do it the hard way now, but the loss to the Storm will be all the spark they need.
The situation is similar to Queensland winning the State of Origin series this year.
NSW won game two and the doubts crept in about the Maroons maintaining their dominance.
We all saw the reaction and how Queensland blew away the Blues in the decider. Trent Robinson has confirmed Mitchell Pearce is only ‘’60 per cent’’ fit for Friday night’s game, so there’s certainly no need to risk him.
The Roosters still have plenty of firepower without him and are playing a level above where the Bulldogs are at right now.
To be honest, the Roosters should win the semi-final at Allianz Stadium comfortably.
The Bondi boys had won their past 12 before losing to the Storm. While Robinson will be disappointed the loss came in the first week of the finals, the benefit of a top four finish is the second chance.
The Roosters are the benchmark of this competition, even though the Storm were superb in winning the qualifying final.
As for Canterbury, they found a way to win when they needed to against the Dragons.
It shows the type of character they have. Credit to the Dragons too, they gave it everything they had, but came up short when it mattered.
Sure, the Bulldogs won six in a row to make it this far, but Saturday night’s win was far from convincing.
They really miss Trent Hodkinson’s kicking game and direction.
There’s a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of Josh Reynolds who is better off involving himself in the game than trying to fill Hodkinson’s shoes.
The Dogs best hope is through their forward pack.
It’s the way they play. They’re a grinding team who will wear you down with their big men and ability to find an offload.
But the Roosters pack is one of the few able to match them in the NRL.
This is the Bulldogs’ problem. When plan A fails to do the damage, or they start making a few errors and provide the Roosters with some opportunities, they just don’t have the answers. The Roosters failed to provide Michael Jennings and Blake Ferguson with enough of the footy against the Storm.
There’s little doubt it would have been raised in team meeting this week and expect both of them to have a huge impact on Friday night.
Even without Pearce, the Roosters have too much backline strikepower for the Dogs to handle.
Once Pearce comes back and if they play to their potential, the Roosters will be very hard to stop.