They were one of the most dominant teams in the NRL in 2024, but the Sydney Roosters have been hit by the injury bug at the worst possible time, losing a number of key players as they head into the finals.
The team will be without both Sam Walker and Brandon Smith during their clash with the Panthers Saturday, while veteran Jared Waerea-Hargreaves will also miss the match due to suspension.
But despite a significant chunk of their salary cap relegated to the sidelines, Roosters' captain James Tedesco is still confident his side has what it takes to take down the reigning three-time premiers.
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Tedesco refuses to lean on injury excuse ahead of finals
It would be easy for Tedesco and the Roosters to resign themselves to their fate in this clash, taking on one of the NRL's most historically dominant teams while missing a considerable chunk of their starting side.
But the Sydney fullback is adamant that this will not be the case, and that he and his men will use this underdog status to further fuel their run at the title.
"It’s hard because this time of year you want your whole squad to be healthy," Tedesco said.
"That goes a long way to winning a premiership, but we can’t use that as an excuse.
"Our depth this year is probably the strongest it’s been for years, we’ve got top players who are out at the moment but the guys that fill in for those guys are just as good.
"Even though we’ve got a couple of guys out, we aren’t too disheartened by that.
"We’ve got a lot of confidence in the guys coming in. It’s not ideal this time of year, you want your whole squad to be healthy, but that’s footy sometimes."
Tedesco also claimed that the significant roster turnover the Roosters would experience at the end of this season was also a motivating factor in pushing for a premiership, in an effort to send off these players the right way.
"It’s closing on their time at the Roosters and we want to make the most of that for those guys leaving," he said.
"The guys that are leaving at the end of the year are so big for our club, have been legends of our club now for a number of years now.
"It is sad to see a lot of those guys go. You can’t just replace guys like that but we’ve talked about that amongst ourselves and at the club that this is a great opportunity for us.
"This is a big opportunity and we won’t leave any stone unturned, just go all in at training and away from training and make sure we’re as prepared as we can."
The Roosters will take on the Penrith Panthers this Friday, at BlueBet Stadium.
