The Roosters made it five wins on the trot with a 32-18 victory over the Cowboys in James Tedesco's 200th career game at the SCG on Saturday.
With props Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Matt Lodge leading the way up front and Tedesco typically elusive with nine tackle breaks, the Roosters turned an eight-point half-time lead into their 12th win of the season.
The Roosters needed just four minutes to open the scoring thanks to Joseph Suaalii, who had a saloon passage to the line courtesy of a long cut-out pass from Victor Radley.
Radley was in the thick of the action again in the 17th minute when he put Lodge over next to the posts with a good short ball and the Roosters led 10-0.
The Roosters continued to mount pressure and almost had a third through Joey Manu when he flew high to take a bomb but lost the ball as he tried to get it down.
Suaalii opens the scoring
With seven minutes remaining in the first half the Cowboys hit back when Murray Taulagi showed great strength to crash over in the corner after a brilliant tap-on by Luciano Leilua.
On the back of their second penalty for the day the Roosters worked their way down field where Sam Walker and Paul Momirovski combined to put Daniel Tupou over in the left hand corner.
In the 53rd minute the Roosters went out to a 20-6 lead when Sam Verrills darted over from the back of a scrum close to the line with the Cowboys complaining that Lodge had held Griffin Neame back and prevented him getting a shot at Verrills.
Taulagi gets one back for the Cowboys
Five minutes later Neame stood tall at the opposite end of the field when he put hooker Reece Robson in for a try with a deft offload.
Waerea-Hargreaves capped an outstanding game when he powered over for the 16th try of his career in the 65th minute and the Roosters led by 14.
When Verrills showed great strength to get over for his second try of the day the Roosters were home and hosed at 32-12.
Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow grabbed a consolation try for the Cowboys with one minute to play but the damage had well and truly been done.
For the time being at least the Roosters have leapfrogged the Broncos into seventh place on the ladder, pending Brisbane's game against the Knights.
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Match Snapshot
- Roosters props Matt Lodge and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves had 22 runs and made 199 metres between them in their opening stints.
- Joseph Suaalii was placed on report in the 32nd minute for a high shot on Tom Dearden.
- Roosters skipper James Tedesco had 17 runs for 159 metres and broke nine tackles in his 200th career game.
- Reece Robson and Reuben Cotter got through a power of work in defence for the Cowboys with 104 tackles between them.
Neame brilliant offload for Robson try
- Roosters winger Joseph Suaalii has scored 14 tries in his past 14 games.
- Roosters prop Matt Lodge's try was his first since round 19, 2019 for the Broncos against the Titans.
- The Roosters have won their past five games against the Cowboys.
- Joseph Suaalii made 165 metres for the Roosters from 18 runs.
- Jason Taumalolo played 32 minutes for the Cowboys and had just nine runs for 62 metres.
Verrills goes over after a scrum move
Play of the Game
Matt Lodge broke a 43-game try drought when he stormed onto a Victor Radley pass from close range to grab the Roosters' second of the day. Lodge and fellow enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves both made storming starts to the game and it was JWH playing a leading hand in the try, turning his back to the defensive line and sending the ball to Radley who set up Lodge.
Lodge breaks try drought
What They Said
"There's a real tag team there that Lodgey and Jared play with which is really good and then Rads [Victor Radley] offers some vision and hardness around that as well so Lodgey has added some good starch to our game there. He really loves playing with Jared and you can really see that in the way that they have combined .... I feel like we could've been a bit more ruthless. We won the game but there's a bit more in us. At different periods we could have been more ruthless." - Roosters coach Trent Robinson
Roosters: Round 22
"I thought we turned up to the fight but we didn't fight long enough or hard enough. Weight of possession in that first half went against us, at one stage it was 70-30, but in the end we were just beaten in the ruck. We were probably too nice in a lot of moments and played a hungry team who know how to win and when they've got the foot on the throat they don't take it off, and that's what happened today. We got a lesson in finals football four weeks out from the finals." - Cowboys coach Todd Payten
Cowboys: Round 22
What's Next
The Roosters are at the Sydney Cricket Ground again in Round 23, hosting Wests Tigers on Saturday, before finishing the regular season with games against Storm (a) and Rabbitohs (h). Key forwards Lindsay Collins and Siosiau Taekeiaho are a chance to return and bolster the pack against the Tigers.
The Cowboys return to Townsville in Round 23 to host the Warriors before two monster games against the Rabbitohs (a) and Panthers (h) to get them tuned up for the finals. Veteran winger Kyle Feldt should be back on deck from a hamstring injury in Round 23 or 24.