Match Details
Match Date	16th Mar, 2018
Opponent	Sydney Roosters
Result	Loss 12-30
Coach	Dean Pay
Captain	Josh Jackson
Venue	Sydney Football Stadium (Allianz Stadium)
Crowd	12,226
Referee	Gerard Sutton Chris Butler

It took 53 minutes but the Sydney Roosters' off-season spending spree finally hit pay dirt at Allianz Stadium last night.

The Roosters were well on there way to victory against Canterbury

when fullback James Te­desco — coming off an unhappy outing against his former club Wests Tigers last week — found a hole in the Bulldogs' defence.

As Tedesco was confronted by Moses Mbye, Cooper Cronk loomed in support. The Roosters' million-dollar men combined to put the final nail in the Bulldogs' coffin as they ran out 30-12 winners, opening the account for the season with an emphatic victory.

In the stands, coach Trent Rob­inson and chair Nick Politis. who led the charge to sign Tedesco and Cronk. were no doubt wearing broad smiles.

That was one of the nice mo­ments," Robinson said. "It was great to see them combine on thatlike he did around the play. We had better combinations."

“We worked on that just com­bining well." Tedesco said. "We have so much attacking threat in our team and we used that tonight. It worked perfectly for us."

The Roosters were among the pre-season favourites largely due to the presence of Tedesco and Cronk. The bookies looked as though they were off the mark as the Roosters opened with a loss to Wests Tigers. Last night was morelike it. Tedesco was a threat every time he touched the ball while Cronk looked liberated by the re­turn of halves partner Luke Keary — he missed the Tigers game with the after-effects of concussion — who scored one try and had a hand in two others.

"He is a footballer—we missed him last week," Tedesco said.

"He plays what he sees. It really adds a lot to us in attack and makes me look good."

The Bulldogs had no answer. They gave themselves hope when inspirational captain Josh Jackson crashed over midway through the second half but a late Latrell Mit­chell goal, and a Ryan Matterson try, off another pass from Luke Keary consigned the Bulldogs to a hearty defeat — their second in as many weeks.

There were high hopes aroundPay but the optimism is fast erod­ing. They were thrashed by the Melbourne Storm on the opening weekend of the season and they were given another touch-up last night albeit against one of the premiership heavy­weights.

"It's becoming frustrating, that's for sure," Pay said.

"I thought the first half their back five just rolled out of our end too easy. We have some new play­ers at the club, we have some new structures we a working on. Itsgoing to take time but we want to make sure we're putting in performances each weekend as well.

We need to be better — we cer­tainly need to be better."

The Bulldogs could have been behind after three minutes but Mitchell and Daniel Tupou con­trived to bomb a try when it looked like they were certain a to score.

They didn’t have to wait long for their first points. A Bull­dogs bomb found its way into Tedesco’s hands he set off and found Keary in support.

The Roosters were off and running for their second try of the night There was an element of good fortune, although there was nothing lucky about the pass from Jake Friend which gave Blake Ferguson his second try in as many games. Even the sin-binning of Isaac Liu for a professional foul failed to stop the momentum. The Roosters held their nerve and their defensive line and with twominutes remaining in the first half, Keary returned the favour for Te­desco and the Roosters No 1 crossed for his first try since his switch from the Wests Tigers.

The Roosters finished the night with 15 men — Tupou suf­fered a pectoral injury which could sideline him for an extended period while Mitch Aubusson gashed his head.

It hardly mattered.

"We're a better footy team than what we dished up tonight."  Can­terbury captain Josh Jackson said.

"Particularly disappointed with the 30 points — that's two weeks in a row that we have let in 30 points. There is a lot of work to be done."

Source: The Australian

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