By Dan Walsh
The Roosters’ right edge has emerged as the second-most dangerous attacking channel in the NRL this season.
It’s second only to the team’s left edge.
The Tricolours’ 30 points a game in 2024 is not only the most in the league this season by some margin, but the most scored by the club in almost 90 years.
Fittingly, the feats of Immortal Dave Brown, the ‘Bradman of rugby league’, and his 1935 premiership-winning Roosters side will realistically never be repeated.
Their 37.43 points per game were scored in the three-point try era, and translates to 45.63 when converted to four points a try.
But this year’s red, white and blue vintage is next in the Roosters rankings, and a stark departure from the past few years when the Roosters seemingly held every attacking ace, but struggled to play the right card at the right time.
Playmaker Luke Keary and coach Trent Robinson are both convinced this is the most lethal attack they’ve been a part of, particularly since Dom Young’s arrival outside Joey Manu on the Roosters’ right.
“It feels like we can strike whenever we want,” Keary says. “Dom, you give him half a chance, he scores. It’s not to say we haven’t had that all the time, but it’s definitely changed our attack.
“That right edge, we’ve been a real threat on the left for a lot of years. But that right edge is starting to hum. Joey Manu has always been there, but to have a winger like that ...
“We’ve still got our left, but then our right is probably going better than our left. We’ve got Brandon [Smith] and Connor [Watson] through the middle, and then Teddy [James Tedesco] who plays a lot through the middle.
“It feels like we’ve got a really good balance between getting into the grind, but also taking different opportunities at stages.”
Robinson made a point of the Roosters “attacking the full 68 metres [the width of an NRL field] more, right through to the last tackle” after Sunday’s 40-6 trouncing of Wests Tigers.
Champion Data’s numbers tell the full story, with the Roosters already scoring more tries in 15 games this season down their left (36) and right edges (29) than they did in 24 matches last year (29 tries scored on the left, 23 on the right). Tries through the middle are on par with their 2023 output of roughly one per game.
Roosters halves Sam Walker and Luke Keary have their attack flying in 2024.Credit: Getty Images
Sam Walker’s development as a playmaker, particularly in terms of his kicking and decision-making, has played a large part in that, and Keary is more than comfortable in the 22-year-old’s ability to steer the side when he exits at season’s end.
Keary is weighing up the prospect of a Catalans swansong next year, with the Roosters signing Chad Townsend on a one-year, $300,000 deal as a guiding hand for Walker and sophomore playmaker Sandon Smith.
“As a half you get to 50 or 100 games and you start to see things a lot better,” Keary said of Walker, who the Roosters have flagged long-term extension talks with.
“You pick up things. I have seen that before, I know what to do there. [Adam] Doueihi comes up, you throw over the top. You pick up little things, the fullback is over there, I’ll kick in behind.
“He came in [to first grade] with the long balls, but it’s hard to give them those situations over and over again. It’s hard to measure that, but he’s got better at reading the game. It comes from experience.”
But while their attack is flying ahead of Sunday’s clash with the resurgent Dragons, defence will still be the true measure of their premiership credentials, particularly given the Roosters’ poor record against heavyweights Penrith and Melbourne in recent years.
“The big games are played a little bit differently,” Keary says.
“We’ve been really good in attack and able to blow different teams apart at different stages. But defensively, a few of us know what it takes [to win a premiership]. And we’re just not there yet. We have to prove that to ourselves to get there.”
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