Roosters coach Trent Robinson has praised Saturday night’s elimination final win over the Sharks as the “gutsiest” he’s been a part of in his decade at the club.
The Roosters lost Joey Manu (hamstring) and Joseph Suaalii (concussion) during the game, while skipper James Tedesco was binned in the second half.
It meant Robinson ran out of fullbacks and had to shift rookie Sandon Smith to the back which triggered players changing positions everywhere.
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Sam Walker booted the match-winning field goal, despite injuring his ankle 10 minutes earlier which stopped him taking a conversion to level the game.
It meant “fifth string” goalkicker Billy Smith had to step up with the game on the line and he delivered in spades to make it 12-12 in the 70th minute.
“Sammy struck it beautifully… and nailed the kick, it was straight, high and beautifully struck. He’s got cold blood in those moments he’s shown that over time,” Robinson said of Walker’s match winner.
“The other one was Billy Smith, at 12-10 Sammy has done his ankle, a bit like Sandon at fullback, Billy is like fifth string at goal kicking. I don’t even know if he’s fifth, Keary is ahead of him and he thought Sam took that kick for goal.
Walker wins it in ultimate redemption! | 01:11
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“But Billy said ‘I’ll take it’, he just hung around and to nail that at 12-10, that’s a huge play from Billy Smith. Like he doesn’t practise and that was our night.
“That was an example of guys saying ‘this is not traditional for me, this is not normal, but I’ll do a job’.
“Angus at left centre, Siua at right centre, Junior going from left wing to right wing, Billy on the wing, Sandon at fullback, Tyrell playing 40 minutes in the second half.”
Robinson was then asked if it was the gutsiest finals win of his NRL coaching career, which started at the Roosters in 2013.
“Gutsiest? Probably. There were many ways to lose that game and they found a way to win, so yeah,” he said.
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“Prettiest? I’d like to play better footy and we will play better footy next week.
“Our footy can be improved a lot but the spirit we played with, that was top end.
“There were lots of reasons not to win that game. And I felt like the spirit grew the more changes, the more chaos that got created.
“I’m just really proud. You want the footy to improve. But as far as the spirit with which they played the game, it was at the high, high end.”
The Roosters have now won six games in a row and next week will face the Storm in Melbourne for a spot in the preliminary finals.
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