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Opinion
The Roosters are rapidly lurching towards NRL oblivion known as wooden spoon territory, if they are not there already.
They are struggling to score points and can’t stop conceding them, which is usually a recipe for the kind of 1-4 record which has them sitting above only the hapless Eels on the ladder.
Ranked 15th in attack and 16th in defence, it can’t get much worse for Trent Robinson’s team.
They are in a holding pattern while they await star halfback Sam Walker’s return from a torn ACL which is still at least a couple of months away.
By the time he is fit and ready their playoff hopes might only be a mathematical equation anyway so it’s time for Robinson to think outside the box.
Walker’s fill-in for the No.7 jersey, Chad Townsend, is having little to no impact.
He has created just three line breaks in five appearances – none of them leading to tries – despite getting his hands on the ball precisely 50 times a match.
Mark Nawaqanitawase on the run at Accor Stadium. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Halves partner Sandon Smith is faring better with three tries of his own while tallying a couple of try assists.
But their combined lack of offensive strikepower has meant the Roosters are averaging just 16.8 points, only ahead of Parramatta (13.4) and the pop-gun Knights (10.5).
The Roosters coughed up a 14-8 lead in losing to a Rabbitohs side that barely had enough fit players to field the full complement last Friday at Accor Stadium.
And their assignment over the next two weeks is a trip to Brisbane against the Broncos on Friday before taking on premiers Penrith.
A first wooden spoon since 2009 and only the club’s second one in 59 years cannot be ruled out.
One of the few bright lights for Robinson this season has been the impact provided by former Wallabies winger Mark Nawaqanitawase as he tries to make a fist of the more unusual rugby code hop of recent times – from union to league.
He’s bagged two tries in four appearances at centre and also shown he has the skills to pass wide when needed, which can be a lot trickier than it seems for code hoppers adapting to new formations, plays and tempos.
Nawaqanitawase missed the loss to Souths due to a calf strain but is due back in Round 6.
There is talk in NRL circles that he will be used on the wing after fellow centre Billy Smith’s successful return from injury in his absence with English star Dominic Young being made the scapegoat for the team’s poor form.
The Roosters need to shed more than a wing to get flying again.
They knew they were getting an athlete after Nawaqanitawase’s efforts for the Wallabies and his limited opportunities representing Australia at the Paris Olympics in rugby sevens.
But he is more than just a speed machine to be deployed on the wing to wait for chances to come his way after being created by teammates.
Nawaqanitawase needs to get his hands on the ball more and Robinson could do that by shifting him to fullback and switching former Kangaroos captain James Tedesco to five-eighth.
Tedesco raised a few eyebrows in the off-season when he revealed he had chatted to Robinson about being open to finishing his career in the halves if the demands of playing fullback became too much for his 31-year-old legs but added that it was not likely to happen anytime soon.
Chad Townsend. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
But why not now?
Give it a whirl for these next couple of months while they are waiting for Walker to rehab his knee.
If it works, with Sandon Smith taking over at halfback, it might keep them within striking distance of the top eight for a Walker-propelled rise into the playoffs over the second half of the season.
And if it doesn’t work, they can only drop one rung lower on the ladder than the one they currently occupy.
Townsend is one of the NRL’s most durable and enduring players.
He has chalked up 267 matches after making his debut for the Sharks way back in 2011. Along the way he has been pragmatic, jumping on an opportunity at the Warriors for a couple of years when his path to a permanent NRL berth was blocked.
Then he returned to Cronulla for their premiership year of 2016, playing a crucial role alongside James Maloney in the halves for their grand final-winning side.
Then during the pandemic he had another sojourn at the Warriors for five games before accepting a lucrative three-year deal to provide veteran leadership at the Cowboys, guiding them to within a converted try of the 2022 grand final.
And when the writing was on the wall last season, he jumped at the chance to sign a one-year deal to be the Roosters’ back-up half behind Walker and Smith following Luke Keary’s decision to head off to the Super League.
But not every NRL player gets the fairytale farewell, the vast majority do not, and the 34-year-old playmaker is not justifying his place in the team at the moment so Robinson would be well within his rights to try a younger half or a chancy option like moving Tedesco.
“Being a half, when you win the games, you get the credit,” Roosters hooker Connor Watson told reporters on Monday. “But when you lose the game or the side is going bad, it’s your fault.
Isaiah Tass celebrates scoring his try with Latrell Mitchell. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)
“We need to do a better job for our halves. We need to give them a better platform, and making errors out of our own end isn’t helping them.
“As a team, we can sort that discipline out and it’ll make the halves’ job so much easier.
“Chad seems good. He’s been around a long time, he’s done so much in the game and he’s got so much experience, so it’s been a joy having him.
“There is external noise, but whether Chad listens to it, I’m not too sure.”
The Roosters at least get Victor Radley back from a cheekbone injury for their trip to Brisbane but Maroons prop Lindsay Collins will be out for six weeks due to medial ligament damage.