Justin Holbrook reflects on Roosters semi-final success

Sydney Roosters assistant coach, Justin Holbrook discusses his perspective on the semi-final win against the Manly Sea Eagles on Friday night.

The Sydney Roosters are set to enter their seventh preliminary final under coach Trent Robinson, after a convincing 40-16 victory.

Despite most teams tending to tamper off in training at this stage in finals, the Roosters took a different approach, which may have been their secret to victory.

"We trained pretty hard this week, which you don't normally do in semi-finals,” Holbrook told SEN The Jimmy Smith Show. “The boys handled it really well.”

"I thought a lot of guys were really hard to tackle tonight and also tackled well.”

SEN’s Jimmy Smith speaks to the impressiveness of Victor Radley’s swift return to the field after facing a fractured scapula in round 26.

Despite only playing 29 minutes, both his and Jarod Waerea-Hargreaves’ return marked a huge shift in attitude and competitiveness for the side.

“Jarod and Victor coming back in set a tone about the way they play the game,” Holbrook said.

Smith also notes the success from fullback, James Tedesco in his 250th game, making his mark and a real play for selection at the Australian team.

“Guess who held up Kenny Bromwich with a miraculous tackle with four-minute remaining to save the game? That would be James Tedesco,” Smith said.

The Sydney Roosters now face a six-day turnaround before preliminary final against the Melbourne Storm, as they hope to reach their first grand final since their premiership win in 2019.