NRL 2021: Sydney Roosters Season Review

The Sydney Roosters came into the 2021 NRL season full of expectations but ended up filling the rehab room instead of the trophy cabinet.

Here’s your Sydney Roosters Season Review for 2021:

• The Season In Brief: Stats and Summary
• Takeaways From 2021
  • Things I Liked: Teddy taking control, Daniel Tupou, Drew Hutchison
  • 3-2-1: Joseph Manu, Sam Walker, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
  • Summer Notepad: The Rehab Room
• Preseason Prediction Throwback
• Way Too Early Thoughts On 2022

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The Season In Brief

We’re summing up the NRL season in a few words before getting into the nitty-gritty and breaking down some of the key moments in 2021.

By The Numbers

The numbers don’t do the Sydney Roosters justice in 2021. Their attack performed relatively well for 25.4 points per game (5th) while the 21.3 points conceded per game (6th) is a little more than we would normally expect from this team. Injuries and a lack of cohesion will do that, though. The pack performed admirably but could only run for 1,647 metres per game which translated into just 25 tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line per game (12th). Like most seasons, the Chooks finished towards the top of the error list to record an NRL-high 11.7 errors per game.

Copy: Bar Chart
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The Season In 200 Words

What a year it was for Trent Robinson and the Sydney Roosters. There isn’t another team in the comp who could win 66% of their games in a season where not one, not two, but three club captains were forced into retirement while their halfback and an Origin quality prop watched from the sidelines as well.

I can’t for the life of me recall when it was, but at some point late in the season Phil Gould said something in the commentary that sums the Roosters up for me in 2021. He referenced the experienced players remaining in the Roosters’ decimated side and how they were consistently Sydney’s best players, week in, week out, simply because they needed to be.

In a side overflowing with rookies, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Angus Crichton, Josh Morris, Victor Radley, Joseph Manu and of course a bloke named James Tedesco hardly put a foot wrong all season. The Roosters’ most experienced campaigners led from the front every week and took it upon themselves to ensure the Tricolours didn’t lose their way. 

The Roosters’ fifth-place finish is largely thanks to the work of these senior players and of head coach Trent Robinson, who needs to start being considered alongside names like Bellamy and Bennett. 

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Takeaways From 2021

Things I Liked

Jason picks out a few moments, matches or players that he liked most throughout the 2021 NRL season.

Teddy Taking Control

The injury toll on the Roosters in 2021 is well-documented. We don’t need to go over that again. However, the way they dealt with the injuries, especially to Luke Keary and Jake Friend, is particularly impressive.

James Tedesco changed the way he played in an attempt to pick up the pieces injured players had left in the squad. Typically supporting through the middle or as an attacking force out the back of shape while running downhill at a scrambling or retreating defensive line, Tedesco played on the ball a lot more often in 2021.

Tedesco averaged 12.5 support plays per game in 2019 and 8.1 per game in 2020. In 2021, on the other hand, he averaged fewer than 5.1 per game (NRL.com only display the Top 50 and Tedesco is nowhere to be seen). He took on a lot of the game-management and playmaking duties and displayed a different part to his game.

Something as simple as a carry one-off the ruck and tip on to a forward can be so effective when Tedesco is involved.

You can’t turn away from him too early. As he takes possession and heads straight for Mitch Barnett with Egan Butcher hanging off his shoulder here, Tedesco puts his forward one-on-one with the opposition half which results in a quick play-the-ball and pressure-free kick on the last.

Tedesco often popped up in this position as a ballplayer – even more so when Victor Radley sat on the sideline. Only Clint Gutherson averaged more general play passes as a fullback (15 per game) than Tedesco’s 14 per game, but the Eels #1 did so with nine extra touches per game per Fox Sports Lab.

The idea of Tedesco moving the ball around the ruck then has a further impact on the defence. It’s not something he has always made part of his game, but as the 2021 season went on, Tedesco took possession one-off the ruck a lot more and created opportunities on the back of it.

Here he sees the peeling defender trip and reload in the defensive line late. As Tyson Frizell over-commits to chasing Tedesco who moments earlier engaged the line and played a forward onto a smaller man, the Roosters fullback steps inside this time, breaking the line and setting up a play that saw Lachlan Lam score on the following tackle.

I’ve talked a lot about deception throughout the year. It’s something the best playmakers in the game are mastering right now, but deceiving the opposition defensive line isn’t limited to players in possession of the football. Just look where Tedesco comes from to break the line here.

He’s in the spot that has seen him take possession before running himself or tipping onto a teammate on the right side, but quickly sweeps around – effectively hiding from the marker behind his own player – before flying onto an excellent Victor Radley pass and into the gap.

That is three different ways Tedesco was able to impact the same game in a 25-minute span. He became the best fullback in the world by always being in the right place at the right time and using his outrageous tackle-breaking ability to create something out of nothing. He changed things up in 2021 and found new ways to be effective but remains as a top player in his position. Put Luke Keary, 24 games of Victor Radley and a developing Sam Walker around this new-look Teddy and defences won’t know what has hit them.

Daniel Tupou – Still Underrated

How does a dude that can finish tries around his ankles…

Or above his head…

Not get mentioned more when talking about the best wingers in the NRL?

Daniel Tupou played 26 matches, scored 15 tries and ran for 180 metres per game.

Availability ✅
Finishing ability ✅
Effective in yardage ✅

What more could you want in a winger?

He’s not the flashiest player so doesn’t end up in too many highlight reels. He’s surrounded by superstars (including the bloke mentioned above) which takes even more shine from Tupou. I love watching him play, though.

Drew Hutchison

I still can’t quite believe how well Drew Hutchison played across 20 games this season. It was only in August last year that Oscar and I were talking about Hutchison as Brodie Croft level of player…

He played a lot more than anybody hoped he would following an injury to Luke Keary but filled in admirably, providing a veteran presence in the halves beside Sam Walker despite only playing 15 games before stepping in to start in the #6 jersey for Round 4 this year.

Hutchison’s numbers don’t jump off the page. Especially for a side with as much firepower in attack as the Roosters do. However, his three tries, nine try assists and ten linebreak assists are decent enough figures for a stop-gap and display how willing he was to fall into whatever role was asked of him.

He is signed through to the end of 2023 and the Roosters will be hoping he spends the majority of that time in reserve grade or on the bench at most. If Hutchison needs to play 20 games again in 2022, the Roosters are in trouble. Still, he has forged a reputation as a reliable backup and is arguably the best first-drop in the halves across the NRL.

That’s some leap in class from 12 months ago.

~ Jason

3-2-1

True rugby league fans will know there’s nothing more legitimate than the Dally M’s 3-2-1 voting system…With that in mind, Oscar picks out three elements from the 2021 season that deserve a mention.

3 – Joseph Manu

Wherever he ends up in 2023, Joey Manu is going to make bank. 

As the Roosters squad crumpled around him this season, Manu was one of a few Sydney players who stood taller and taller each time they were asked. If not for that facial injury in Round 24 Manu would have finished the season as one of the best players in the competition, such was his influence in 2021. 

Whether at five-eighth, centre, fullback, wing or a hybrid of them all, Manu was electric for the Roosters. He’s one of the best centres in the game but showed he can do a job just about anywhere in the backline when needed. His Round 12 shift at five-eighth was a highlight of Manu’s season. Playing out of position, he used his footwork and speed to isolate defenders and pass his teammates into positive areas on the field like a veteran half. 

This assist for Sitili Tupouniua was mint. 

A skip to the outside leaves Caleb Aekins clutching at thin air before a skip back infield forces Jack Wighton to turn his hips and commit to the tackle. Having created the space, Manu casually flicks the ball out one-handed to Tupouniua who scores his easiest try of the season. 

That’s premiere-quality ballplaying from a guy who can also do things like this:

Even when forced into new positions, Manu found ways to use his familiar skills in unfamiliar areas. He’s always been a target for placed attacking kicks when parked in the centres so once he launched this bomb skywards from pivot, Manu chased hard and put himself in the frame to make a play here and make it he did. 

Manu is a supreme talent. The superstar names around him at the Roosters have probably distracted us from Manu’s ridiculously high ceiling in the past, but he was exposed – for all the right reasons – this season. He’s got a wonderful work ethic, and coupled with his skillset and natural athletic ability, Manu has the potential to be the next big superstar name himself. He’s off contract at the end of 2022 and where he signs on for 2023 onward is going to be a hotly contested topic by season’s end. 

2 – Sam Walker

What a year it was for young Sam Walker. 

Joining the Roosters from Brisbane’s junior systems, Walker made his debut much sooner than anyone would have planned for when he replaced the injured Luke Keary in Round 4 and went on to play 21 games by season’s end. The physical toll of giving up 20+ kilograms to just about every bloke he tackled saw Walker finish the year on the bench nursing a shoulder injury and as such we forgot just how devastating he was when he burst on the scene. 

I wrote this back in Round Eight after Walker had seven try involvements in the Roosters 38-4 win over the Newcastle Knights:

“From [his first] five games at halfback Sam Walker now has three tries, 12 try assists, three line breaks and 15 tackle busts as well as kicking 11 goals off the tee. Fox Sports Lab has him down for 16 try contributions. Walker has either scored himself or had a role to play in 86 of the 134 points the Roosters have scored since he debuted in Round 4.” – Take the Two: Round 8

The hardest part about writing this segment is choosing which highlight moments to recap from Walker’s rookie season, but that looping cut-out pass is the first action that comes to mind. Whether on the left edge or the right, Walker showcased a wonderful ability to sum up numbers and link with his wingers with an outrageous, pin-point long ball. 

That’s got to be close to Pass of the Season. Walker cuts out three Roosters teammates here to get Daniel Tupou on the outside of Ronaldo Mulitalo – and with about two inches to spare – for a brilliant try in the corner. There’s no defending passes like this and while Walker’s left-to-right pass wasn’t as slick, it was still effective. 

In both of these actions the key to Walker’s ballplaying is how deep he gets into the line before passing. 

He has two superb lead runners in Angus Crichton and Sitili Tupouniua who do a good job of holding up the defence with a genuine decoy option, but it’s the time Walker buys himself in the pocket of that lead runner that creates the space out wide. There’s no obstruction, but with every split-second Walker holds the ball, the edge defence compresses in to shut down the short pass. On both occasions it leaves Sydney’s wingers unmarked and on both occasions Walker made them pay. 

He’s also not afraid to take on the line himself. Listed at just 78 kg Walker is unlikely to push through contact and barge over the line himself, but he used his footwork and speed to punish tired defenders and create opportunities for the players around him. 

This one against the Dragons in Round 7 was a cracker. 

He’s also a superb support player and a clutch kicker of the ball. To have kicked three field goals (competition high) in his first season of first grade is a sorely underappreciated stat and Walker’s general game kicking was top-shelf at times, too. 

This action was my favourite from Walker’s 2021 season. 

The effort to push up in support despite being a good 15 metres behind the ball when Victor Radley streaks away, the footwork to slip out of the Kurt Mann tackle when he takes possession, the vision to know Josh Morris is unmarked on the left wing and the skill to stop on a dime and drop a perfectly placed chip kick over the defence into Morris’ lap – Walker was just having us on by this point. 

To do all this in a spine that rotated through hookers, five-eighths and even fullbacks during the Origin period was a remarkable achievement and it’s scary to think what Walker will be able to do alongside a genuine half in Luke Keary moving forward. Ideally, Walker isn’t asked to do too much at all over the next 12-18 months but the experience he will take from 2021 is invaluable and there is no doubting he will be a premiere playmaker in our competition for years to come. 

1 – Jared Warea-Hargeaves 

As a young fella growing up supporting the South Sydney Rabbitohs, I hated Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. 

As a 20-something-year-old bloke who spends all his spare time watching and writing about rugby league, I can’t get enough of him. 

In his 13th season of first-grade the evergreen Waerea-Hargreaves is still punching out elite numbers whether starting or playing off the bench, and his 2021 season was arguably his greatest yet. Statistically it was – Waerea-Hargreaves averaged 148 running metres this season, besting his previous PB of 141m per game in 2019 when Sydney won the comp and Waerea-Hargreaves was considered a premiere front rower. 

Fast forward three years, and he’s still doing the same things. 

Waerea-Hargreaves has always been a handful to defend and the 2021 model was no different. He’s light on his feet for a big unit and is strong in contact which allows him to find his front or keep his feet more often than not. The quick play-the-balls Waerea-Hargreaves consistently produces are often the catalyst for a Roosters’ attacking raid and in set attacking shapes he’s reliable and effective as a decoy runner. 

He’s also got a bit of flair in that 193cm, 103kg rig. 

But where Waerea-Hargreaves is worth his weight in gold is in defence. Fox Sports Lab has him down for 581 tackles (12th most among props) but what the stats don’t convey is the force in those tackles or the little efforts Waerea-Hargreaves consistently makes off the ball. He’s always in the frame to apply kick pressure or close a gap from the inside, and if the Roosters ever need to shift momentum with a big shot in defence, Waerea-Hargreaves is their man. 

In fact, Waerea-Hargreaves was their man all season. He started the year as a bench player but as Roosters teammates fell around him, Waerea-Hargreaves just kept stepping up. 

Two back-to-back 80-minute performances at prop in the middle of the season when the Roosters were decimated with injuries and representative duties sums up Waerea-Hargreaves contribution to the Tricolours in 2021. He ran for a combined 541 metres and made 76 tackles on either side of the bye round and ensured it never fell on Sydney’s rookies to significantly influence a result in 2021. He’s still one of the best enforcers in the game and he’ll be one of my favourite forwards to watch again in ‘22.

~ Oscar

Summer Notepad

The NRL Notepad is a feature that has run all season. With the 2021 campaign wrapped up, we’re starting to think about what we’d like to see between now and March next year.

The Rehab Room

The Sydney Roosters are premiership contenders if they’re healthy. Strong across the field and dominant in key playmaking positions, they’re set up nicely to capitalize on the experience some of the younger players picked up as a result of 2021’s injury curse.

However, we need some good news from the rehab room over the summer to be really confident of contention.