Keary, JWH set to return for win-starved Roosters
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Trent Robinson is hopeful Luke Keary and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will be back to reinforce his Roosters line-up next week after the premiers slumped to their fourth loss in five starts during the rep period.
After plenty of pre-match chopping and changing the Roosters went down fighting 14-12 against Melbourne in Adelaide.
While Origin stars Boyd Cordner and James Tedesco backed up on a five-day turnaround and Latrell Mitchell showed promising signs after a fortnight of intense speculation, Robinson used all four players on his extended bench amid a host of team changes.
Returning winger Brett Morris ended up defending at five-eighth as Mitchell played pivot in attack, while Tongan international Sitili Tupouniua (illness) and Ryan Hall (personal matter) were both mid-week withdrawals.
Friday's team changes continued the constant upheaval around the Roosters all season, but Robinson expects Kiwi prop Waerea-Hargreaves (hamstring) to return against Wests Tigers in round 16.
Match Highlights: Roosters v Storm
Star playmaker Keary will also come into contention having passed all his concussion protocols, though the Roosters won't take any risk with the 27-year-old after a month out due to repeated head knocks.
"We'll make a decision on Tuesday on whether [Keary] is playing or not, I think it's just up to that," Robinson said, confirming the No.6 has passed all relevant return-to-play medical tests.
"If stability means changing again, there probably will be some changes again.
"I expect Jared to be back. Luke will be close. Sitili was sick, Ryan Hall had a family thing, so whatever it is, whatever 17 will run out, we'll keep building on a game like that."
Match: Roosters v Storm
Round 15 -
home Team
Roosters
3rd Position
away Team
Storm
1st Position
Venue: Adelaide Oval, Adelaide
Blues stars Cordner and Tedesco will be absent for the Tigers clash, with Joey Manu likely to resume the No.1 duties he excelled in against Canterbury two weeks ago.
Regardless of the Roosters' mass changes, Robinson saw plenty of positives in their tight loss to Melbourne, which could easily have gone the other way had his side iced two late chances.
"I've been unhappy with wins this year and I've been pretty vocal with the team privately. I saw a lot of stuff that you'd want to build a team on tonight," Robinson said.
"There was some grittiness about that. Some change of positions, some guys that weren't there but I've said it all along.
"It's not about waiting for some guys to come back. I've wanted to see the foundations of the jersey on the field and I saw some of that tonight. I'm disappointed we didn't ice them... but there were some signs there that were really positive."
