Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson says a lack of effort cost his side in their humbling 46-0 loss at home to the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night.
The Roosters were beaten in every facet of the game from line breaks (11-0) to missed tackles (32-13) but it was their poor completion rate that upset Robinson the most.
The Tricolours' handling was superb in appalling conditions last weekend but they couldn't back it up against the Storm, completing just 71 per cent of their sets compared to Melbourne's 95 per cent.
After watching his side perform so well against the Wests Tigers just six days earlier, Robinson was left to question his side's effort levels as they capitulated in the second half to suffer their worst ever defeat against the Storm.
"You always think that you're going to back up, get some confidence out of last week and then play better tonight, but we were – I think this will be pretty short – we were pretty simply well beaten in every area of the footy game," Robinson conceded.
"There was a fair bit on effort tonight. We just didn't have enough [players] on the field making the efforts they were. We challenged ourselves at half-time and we couldn't get it done.
"If you're going to play, we want a bit more effort than that.
"We were going to lose tonight I think by the way Melbourne played and the lack of quality that we had. But to lose by that much, that's the disappointing thing."
Roosters skipper Jake Friend was clearly unimpressed in the post-match press conference about the lack of application shown by some of his teammates in the second half.
"As a team I think we've all got to have a little look at ourselves," a disappointed Friend said.
"I think the effort was there in the first half and then the scoreboard got away from us.
"We had a few blokes stopping and other blokes not backing each other up.
"It's disappointing as a team but it's on us to turn it around. I'm not sure how you do it but hopefully we get it done in the next week and turn up and play well in New Zealand."
Next week's task in New Zealand won't be easy after the Warriors backed up their impressive win over the Broncos by thrashing the Knights 50-14 in Newcastle.
Robinson said it would be tough but hoped an honestly session might be enough to help them get over Saturday night's mauling.
"It takes a fair bit after that, but sometimes when you get thumped by that much, blokes need to think about it for the next couple of days and you have to do it," Robinson said.
"It's a big task over there in the Origin period and with some numbers out.
"If you're going to wear the jersey and if you're going to coach a team like the Roosters, you want to do better than that."
