Trent Robinson didn't need a bunker. A referee. Opposition players feigning injuries. The NRL. Nothing to launch a tirade at this time.
Just a bunch of blokes standing in front of his players wearing something resembling more a red rag – rather than a Red V – and a few bulls finally waking from their slumber this year.Â
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Ferguson, Tupou fire Roosters to record win
A sensational second-half saw the Roosters thrash the Dragons and record their biggest-ever win over the joint venture in a 42-6 thumping in Sydney.
The Roosters coach could have said any number of things to fire up his side after that Anzac Day blow-up. He probably just told them to play better footy than last week when they easily manhandled the premiers. It's more Robinson's measured way. Mission accomplished.
Of all the startling statistics that underpin the Roosters slide from three-time defending minor premiers to second-from-bottom strugglers for most of the year, this one confounds most.
Until mauling a powerless Dragons 42-6 at Allianz Stadium on Sunday – equalling the Roosters' biggest win over the joint venture – the Tricolours hadn't won back-to-back games all year. Yes, all year.
So rampant were the Roosters at one stage they scored tries on three consecutive sets in the second half. It was like the team with all the big kids just charging down the field set after set against a bunch of kids half their size in junior footy. A few sets later it was four tries in 11 minutes.
And to think this team was out of finals contention in June? Funny game, rugby league.
For Robinson's counterpart, Paul McGregor, it was a good thing he likes statistics. Because that's all his Dragons would be clinging onto on Sunday morning.
The man who walks into every press conference and can rattle off the numbers he thinks matter most at a moment's notice would be well aware the abacus hadn't been tossed before heading across town. He can throw it out the window now. The Dragons weren't bumped out of the finals race rather than blasted.
Of those still in finals contention, think the Sharks and Broncos are happy about having to play a Roosters team with the weight of the world off their shoulders in the next fortnight? You can bet not.
Having only led by eight points at half-time when it could – nay should – have been much more, the Roosters made up for lost time in the second stanza with 28 unanswered points.
Daniel Tupou left his mark on the scoreboard with a double – and Josh Dugan's fragile jaw – as Blake Ferguson also bagged a brace.
Perhaps Robinson will be most pleased the merry-go-round to partner Mitchell Pearce may have finally come to a stop. Connor Watson tormented the Dragons at every turn with speed and sleight of hand.
The man next in line, City representative Ryan Matterson, has also had a go on the carousel. Just as he did seven days earlier, he climbed off the bench to fill in at centre inside the first quarter and scored shortly after.
He replaced Mitchell Aubusson, whose kidney pain was slightly dulled in the knowledge he incurred the injury in the act of opening the scoring, pouncing on a Pearce grubber after a glut of Roosters possession.
Somehow the Dragons found a lifeline just after the break. The fact it came from their two maligned halves – Gareth Widdop outleaping Ferguson to touch down after Benji Marshall's hurried kick – probably didn't surprise. It was as good as it got.
The wounded bull had an old score to settle. And they did it in style.
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