The Roosters bordered on perfection for the past two seasons as they became the first team since Brisbane in 1992-93 to claim back-to-back premierships.
But they'll need to rise to another level again if they're to become the first side of the modern era to make it three in a row.
There were a few statistical areas where the Roosters surprisingly struggled in the 2019 regular season.
They made the second-most errors and conceded the third-most penalties but their watertight defence and ability to score from anywhere more than made up for those deficiencies.
The Tricolours also ranked last for forced dropouts, having trapped opponents in their own in-goal only 30 times (1.3 per match).
In stark contrast, Panthers five-eighth James Maloney forced more dropouts on his own with an NRL-high 31.
Roosters No.6 Luke Keary forced 13 dropouts (0.7 per game), while halfback Cooper Cronk contributed nine (0.5 per game).
With Cronk now retired, the kicking responsibilities will now fall to Keary and new recruit Kyle Flanagan. The former Sharks playmaker forced five dropouts in eight appearances last season (0.6 per game).
Such was the strike the Roosters boasted across the park that Trent Robinson's troops often didn't need repeat sets to score tries.
As the pressure from the chasing pack intensifies in 2020, and without Cronk's elite game management, they may need to build more pressure to crack the opposition, so forced dropouts could be crucial.
