Why Trent Robinson’s side is struggling with ball control despite premiership-contending roster
Cooper Cronk said it without saying it in the Fox Sports studios earlier this week.
“I think the Roosters, when they centralise their attack around [the] midfield, they’re the best attacking team around the midfield in the NRL,” the two-time Tricolours premiership-winner began.
“So when they generate that quick play-the-ball through their power forwards, they’ve taken advantage of it by playing forward through the [defensive] gaps. On the weekend [against Melbourne], they started passing away from that game.”
What Cronk didn’t answer was the question exasperated Roosters fans ask themselves all too frequently: Why?
Why did a representative-class spine of James Tedesco, Daly Cherry-Evans, Sam Walker and Reece Robson start swinging them from side to side as they coughed the ball up 18 times against the Storm?
How does the NRL’s most talented roster still leave you wondering about their premiership bona fides despite sitting third with a 7-4 record halfway through the season?
How does the Roosters identity, which Trent Robinson speaks of so regularly, fluctuate so wildly between Harlem Globetrotters and Washington Generals – often more than once in the same game?
Eighteen errors against Melbourne, following on from 18 errors against the Cowboys in Magic Round, equals a mistake every four and half minutes. Robinson was ropeable after fulltime last Saturday and treading familiar territory this week.
Under Robinson, the Roosters have always had licence to play what they see, take the calculated gamble and back the attacking brilliance of born entertainers like Walker, Tedesco and Mark Nawaqanitawase.
Completion rates have never been a cause for concern. They won the 2019 premiership despite “winning” that regularly overrated stat in just six of 27 games that year.
But the Roosters have made fewer errors than their opponent just three times this season. And in the NRL’s new era of expanded six-agains, possession and ball control are king.
“I think we’ve shown that we can do both,” Robinson maintained of the Roosters’ expansive style and the need for a precision game in a 2026 season dominated so far by the Panthers and Warriors.
“Go back to the Manly game where the [Roosters completion rate] was about 96 per cent. I think we had one [error] in that game.
“I think there’s been others there throughout that period where we’ve been able to do both – score points and control the ball.
“That’s the game. That’s pretty clear what’s needed in the game. The last two games have not been what we wanted. So you talk about it, practice it and then go out and do it.”
With Nawaqanitawase returning from ankle surgery on Friday night against Canberra, the Roosters will field no less than 12 stars with Origin or Test credentials from the past 12 months.
It makes for a fascinating clash. The Raiders are just as flighty as the visitors with offloads, support play and attacking brilliance from Kaeo Weekes, Hudson Young and Ethan Strange at their core.
Thirty-six mistakes in the Roosters last two games takes the shine off what is actually their best start to a season since 2021.
Typically, the Roosters have stumbled early, weathered a small mountain of injuries and then stormed home late, while never really looking capable of threatening the very top teams.
Walker and Cherry-Evans, two of the game’s most instinctive halves, are still very much working out how to combine. Tedesco is playing out of his 33-year-old skin.
Hugo Savala is looking every inch a 10-year NRL player as he handles a shift to centre on his ear. Star forwards Angus Crichton and Spencer Leniu have battled for form at times but the Roosters have forward depth other clubs can only dream of.
And yet those 36 mistakes in their past 160 minutes have everyone from the everyday pub punter to Immortal and every-other-day pub punter Andrew Johns struggling to pin down a team with more than enough talent to win the 2026 title.
For what’s it worth, Robinson’s mid-season assessment on Thursday carries water too, not least because it’s coming in the middle of the season.
“We’re in a good spot, we’re starting to find our identity,” he said.
“I’d say we’re close to finding out who that is and how we’re going to play for the rest of the year. I’d say we’re in a good position with better to come”.
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Dan Walsh is a sports reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X or email.
