The Roosters recovered from a miserable 2019 campaign to produce a successful third season of the NRLW despite falling short in the grand final.

Strong performances against the Dragons and Warriors set up a fortnight of clashes with defending champions Brisbane, a task that proved too difficult to overcome in the end.

The coaching appointment of Jamie Feeney proved a masterstroke with the Jillaroos assistant putting together a side that was more than competitive and restored some pride into the Roosters jersey.

With an increased amount of games on the radar in 2021, the Tricolours have built a strong enough platform to go one better next season.

Snapshot

The Roosters made significant changes to their roster in 2020 to field their most inexperienced squad in club history after a winless campaign last year.

They found stability with their forward pack but were forced to reshuffle their backline each week with notable injuries to Charlotte Caslick and Botille Vette-Welsh hurting the cause.

NRLW Rookie of the Year - Kennedy Cherrington

Caslick's back injury robbed fans the chance of seeing the rugby sevens star line up against the champion Broncos outfit in the final fortnight of the competition.

Filomina Hanisi and Kennedy Cherrington were among the surprise packets of the competition, while fellow bench player Quincy Dodd also stood out when she got on the field.

Try scoring – game time

The Roosters scored 10 tries during the regular season to rank second behind the Broncos, while they were equal best with the premiers defensively.

Nita Maynard and Quincy Dodd proved to be handfuls out of dummy half with four tries between them close to the line.  

Corban McGregor and Yasmin Meakes finished the year with two tries each.

Attack 

The Roosters broke the line more than any other team during the regular season with an average of 6.7 line breaks per game despite ranking last for tackle breaks.

Charlotte Caslick proved a handful for the opposition before succumbing to injury with 11 tackle busts in two games with Quincy Dodd (8) and Yasmin Meakes (7) rounding out the top three. Caslick also led the side's offload count with three.

Run metres differential

The yardage game came quite easy for the Roosters with the forward rotation clicking into gear from round one through to the grand final.

Kennedy Cherrington produced the side's highest amount of running metres with 385.9 in three games.

Outside backs Corban McGregor, Shanice Parker, Yasmin Meakes and Brydie Parker were among the next best for the Tricolours.

Discipline

Despite conceding only seven tries during the regular season, the Roosters' discipline painted a different story with the team ranked fourth in errors and third in missed tackles.

Yasmin Meakes made the most errors with four while Zahara Temara, Brydie Parker, and Filomina Hanisi had three each.

NRLW Tackle of the Year - Hannah Southwell

Temara (12), Nita Maynard (11) and Corban McGregor (10) finished in the unwanted top three for missed tackles.

Hanisi, Kennedy Cherrington and Simaima Taufa gave away two penalties each.

Kicking

The Roosters relied on Zahara Temara in the halves with the playmaker taking 25 of the team's 36 kicks for a competition-high 624.9 kick metres.

Temara's short kicking game also proved handy with three forced dropouts – the most of any player in the competition.

Kick return metres

The Roosters backline may have been in a constant reshuffle but the side did well to adapt and lead the competition in kick return metres.

Shanice Parker (99.2 metres) finished second behind Brisbane's Tamika Upton (105.8 metres) in this area with Brydie Parker (43 metres) and Yasmin Meakes (35.1 metres) among those in the top 10. 

Supports

Another area the Roosters excelled in were supports with their 205 figure ahead of the three other clubs in 2020.

Shanice Parker (33) led the competition with Simaima Taufa (20), Kennedy Cherrington (19) and Brydie Parker (18) constantly pushing up in support.

2020 Form Guide

Round Opponent Venue Result
1 Dragons GIO Stadium, Canberra Won 18-4
2 Warriors Bankwest Stadium, Sydney Won 22-12
3 Broncos ANZ Stadium, Sydney Lost 24-16
Grand Final Broncos ANZ Stadium, Sydney Lost 20-10