Agitated Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has labelled his side's 14-12 loss to the Parramatta Eels on Saturday night as a lost opportunity , as their losing streak continued for a third straight week.
Robinson, who four weeks ago was all smiles after his side meticulously pulled the Eels apart with a crushing 56-4 victory, has put down this weekend as one where chances weren't taken.
"It was a tough contest. Parramatta only made two mistakes in the game. Put it back in our court, we created a lot of opportunities but just didn't ice any and didn't execute well enough to win the game," Robinson said.
"We're playing some really tough footy. We're coming up against some really good opposition. We're just lacking enough steely edge to finish the game. We're definitely not far away [from a win] but it hasn’t been good enough for three weeks.
"We weren't good enough to finish, quite simply."
While their last three games have been tight losses, Robinson believes the reigning premiers are missing an edge to put sides away.
"We've had three pretty close games – well we've probably had four in a row with Brisbane, Manly, Canterbury and now Parramatta tonight. We're just missing that edge to ice the teams – teams are playing really good footy against us and we're just missing those opportunities to win games," Robinson said.
"It's tough for the boys. I think we played better footy in attack tonight but we just couldn't get over the line."
Robinson, who four weeks ago was all smiles after his side meticulously pulled the Eels apart with a crushing 56-4 victory, has put down this weekend as one where chances weren't taken.
"It was a tough contest. Parramatta only made two mistakes in the game. Put it back in our court, we created a lot of opportunities but just didn't ice any and didn't execute well enough to win the game," Robinson said.
"We're playing some really tough footy. We're coming up against some really good opposition. We're just lacking enough steely edge to finish the game. We're definitely not far away [from a win] but it hasn’t been good enough for three weeks.
"We weren't good enough to finish, quite simply."
While their last three games have been tight losses, Robinson believes the reigning premiers are missing an edge to put sides away.
"We've had three pretty close games – well we've probably had four in a row with Brisbane, Manly, Canterbury and now Parramatta tonight. We're just missing that edge to ice the teams – teams are playing really good footy against us and we're just missing those opportunities to win games," Robinson said.
"It's tough for the boys. I think we played better footy in attack tonight but we just couldn't get over the line."
Roosters winger, Roger Tuivasa- Sheck agreed, noting that opportunities handed to the Roosters were not taken.
"It was tough, mate. With all our opportunities we didn't execute well and it was just a tough game," Tuivasa-Sheck told NRL.com.
"It's hard because we've sort of we're still looking at ourselves for what else we need so we got to go back to training and see what happens. We just need to go back to the drawing board.
"We know now that there are teams coming to compete their hardest against us. I think at the moment we're still trying to figure out us."
Roosters captain Anthony Minichiello was clear on where his side went wrong.
"I suppose we didn't handle our possession well enough when we got into good ball – there was a lot of dropped ball," Minichiello said.
"We just couldn't put the pressure on with Parramatta there and we gave away some penalties as well. It's an area we definitely need to fix. Our defence is going OK but when we get into good ball we're just not executing to the best of our ability."
The Roosters will now look forward to taking on the Cronulla Sharks on Easter Saturday – all eyes will be on the Chooks as they look to avoid their fourth consecutive loss.
"It was tough, mate. With all our opportunities we didn't execute well and it was just a tough game," Tuivasa-Sheck told NRL.com.
"It's hard because we've sort of we're still looking at ourselves for what else we need so we got to go back to training and see what happens. We just need to go back to the drawing board.
"We know now that there are teams coming to compete their hardest against us. I think at the moment we're still trying to figure out us."
Roosters captain Anthony Minichiello was clear on where his side went wrong.
"I suppose we didn't handle our possession well enough when we got into good ball – there was a lot of dropped ball," Minichiello said.
"We just couldn't put the pressure on with Parramatta there and we gave away some penalties as well. It's an area we definitely need to fix. Our defence is going OK but when we get into good ball we're just not executing to the best of our ability."
The Roosters will now look forward to taking on the Cronulla Sharks on Easter Saturday – all eyes will be on the Chooks as they look to avoid their fourth consecutive loss.
