Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has given his own side a scathing review following the 18-4 loss to the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night.
He was most critical of the tri-colours inability to hold on to the ball, labelling the side as having a "lack of respect for the ball” in their trip down to Melbourne.
The Roosters finished with a 61% completion rate, with 18 errors conceded after 80-minutes in Melbourne.
In a rare low-scoring match, the Roosters were well in it with their courageous defensive efforts, but their ball-handling ended up becoming costly.
“Really poor, a real lack of respect for the harder parts of the game, lack of respect for the ball and how you should play the game,” Robinson said in his post-match press conference.
“We got the result we deserve.”
The Roosters had six players backing up from State of Origin duties on Wednesday night. However, he didn't use it as an excuse as to why the team failed to deliver.
“That's the last excuse,” Robinson said regarding the players backing up.
“Players have got to back up and play... I expect them to come back and play. If they're not ready to play, then they don't. They were all ready to play and we just couldn't get team alignment there about what we wanted out of the game.”
Sydney Roosters skipper James Tedesco also shared his reflections on the match, saying the team failed to gel with the Origin players struggling after Wednesday night's showdown.
“It's part of the game, to be honest,” Tedesco said.
“You're expected to back up if your body's fine. We've got a lot of leaders in our team that didn't play Origin and those guys held the fort down and for the guys that did back up, it was on us to get ready and get the job done. As a team, we just weren't good enough.”
The Roosters can shake off their performance and shift their attention towards the Canberra Raiders. They travel to the nation's capital on June 5.
Meanwhile, the Storm will host the Newcastle Knights on the same night at AAMI Park.
