{"id":296674,"date":"2023-05-14T20:57:53","date_gmt":"2023-05-14T20:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=296674"},"modified":"2023-05-14T22:59:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-14T22:59:17","slug":"shocking-roosters-flaw-exposed-in-heavy-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=296674","title":{"rendered":"'Shocking' Roosters flaw exposed in heavy loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

The finger has to be pointed squarely at the Roosters<\/a>' highly-rated forward pack after Friday night's shock 48-4 loss to the Panthers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Not a single Roosters forward ran for 100 metres as Penrith<\/a> totally dominated their opponents up front.<\/p>\n

Defence was also shocking from the Roosters – they missed 37 tackles in the 80 minutes as the Panthers recorded their biggest ever win over the club.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: <\/strong>Kerr goal rockets Chelsea to FA Cup win<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Star's injury adds to Manly misery<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> England rocked by fresh blow ahead of Ashes<\/strong><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

The one player exempt from criticism is no frills forward Nat Butcher – he made 61 tackles and never stopped trying in a badly beaten side.<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

Ponga makes a late Origin dash\ufeff<\/h3>\n

Does anyone in the NRL face more scrutiny than Knights superstar Kalyn Ponga? Possibly Tommy Turbo – but it's a photo finish.<\/p>\n

With an Origin spot up for grabs, Ponga produced arguably his best performance in the past 18 months as the Knights thumped the Titans 46-26 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

With the weight of the world on his shoulders, Ponga led the Knights to a slashing victory that ended a worrying three-match losing run.<\/p>\n

\"Ponga<\/p>\n

The classy pivot scored a dazzling solo try, had a hand in a couple of others and ran for a team high 175 metres.<\/p>\n

With Reece Walsh also in fine form, Queensland selectors have a very pleasant headache for the fullback spot leading into Origin I.<\/p>\n

Raiders young gun coming up big\ufeff<\/h3>\n

The latest member of league's famous Hopoate family is slowly but surely developing into a regular first grader in the white-hot Green Machine.<\/p>\n

Albert Hopoate – one of the many sons of infamous former Manly bad boy John – is playing great footy on the flank at Canberra.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old has played only 20 NRL games and was among the Raiders' best in the 26-18 win over the Eels on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Hopoate ran for 120 metres and made one of only two linebreaks by the Raiders in a tough game.<\/p>\n

The stocky winger has now played eight games this season and has clearly won the confidence of coach Ricky Stuart.<\/p>\n

Cowboys star firming for Maroons debut\ufeff<\/h3>\n

Heilum Luki only has 30-odd NRL games to his name and has yet to play State of Origin football – but he is fast playing his way into Billy Slater's 'must be selected' list for Queensland.<\/p>\n

The lanky Cowboy was superb for the second straight week against the Dragons on Saturday night, scoring two fine tries and causing the tackle-shy Saints defenders nightmares.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

Luki's return to form has coincided with the Cowboys' resurgence and a Maroons jumper seems a formality – and well deserved.<\/p>\n

At just 22, he could be yelling "QUEENSLANDER" as he takes the field for many years to come.<\/p>\n

The Bunnies' unsung hero\ufeff<\/h3>\n

His fellow South Sydney winger Alex Johnston gets all the tries and the headlines, but Taane Milne is playing the best football of his career at the Rabbitohs this season.<\/p>\n

Milne scored two of Souths' three tries in the hard-fought 20-0 win over the Tigers on Saturday afternoon and troubled the defence all afternoon with his powerful running with the ball.<\/p>\n

\"Milne<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old is in his seventh year with the Rabbitohs and has matured into a fine finisher.<\/p>\n

The Rabbitohs backline is the equal of any in the comp, with Milne doing his bit in both attack and defence.<\/p>\n

Broncos' Storm hoodoo continues \ufeff<\/h3>\n

Brisbane will be hoping to meet anyone but Melbourne come finals time.<\/p>\n

The Broncos are clearly the Storm's bunnies – the 24-16 defeat on Thursday night was Brisbane's 13th straight defeat to Craig Bellamy's purple army.<\/p>\n

The 2023 version of the Broncos are a good side – but clearly the Storm have their measure – both physically and psychologically – in a worrying trend for Kevin Walters with the big games ahead.<\/p>\n

Storm star gets back to his best\ufeff<\/h3>\n

Jahrome Hughes is back to form – and that signals trouble for the other 16 teams in the NRL.<\/p>\n

One of the smartest halfbacks in the comp, Hughes had a slow start to 2023, and it's no coincidence that the Storm also had their struggles in the same period.<\/p>\n

In his first seven games this season, Hughes had just one try assist – a pitiful tally for such a talented player.<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

But the intensive rivalry between the Storm and the Broncos brought out the best in Hughes on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

He was the most influential player on the field and laid on twice as many tries as he had all season to steer his team to a 24-16 win in a spiteful game.<\/p>\n

With Hughes and Cameron Munster – who has now scored tries in four straight against the Broncos – in top form, the Storm will once again be genuine title contenders.<\/p>\n

Johnson sparks the Warriors again\ufeff<\/h3>\n

Another halfback to bounce back to form on the weekend was the Warriors' main man Shaun Johnson.<\/p>\n

After going three games without a try assist – all of which the Warriors lost – Johnson showed his real guile as the Warriors outclassed the Bulldogs 24-12.<\/p>\n

The veteran halfback came up with two try assists – and that was basically the difference between the Warriors and a determined Bulldogs team.<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The finger has to be pointed squarely at the Roosters' highly-rated forward pack after Friday night's shock 48-4 loss to the Panthers. Not a single […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":296011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296674"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296674"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296677,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296674\/revisions\/296677"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/296011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=296674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=296674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}