Altona Roosters ran up a cricket score when they gave South Eastern Titans a 96-4 shellacking in NRL Victoria first grade at Bruce Comben Reserve on Saturday.
With an inferior points difference to the rest of the top-four contenders, it was incumbent on the Roosters to rack up as big a margin of victory as possible, even if the one-sided game was not the best look for Victoria’s top rugby league competition.
“From the competition’s point of view, it’s probably disappointing,” Roosters coach Jason Warr told Star Weekly. “From our point of view, we were on the other end of the stick from the same club last year. I’m not sure what’s happened with them, but I think they’ve lost a few players who are chasing their careers somewhere else.
“They’re struggling a bit at the moment.”
With the top three clubs virtually assured of their finals spots, Altona is jostling it out with three other clubs – Doveton Steelers, North West Wolves and Sunbury Tigers – for fourth place.
While Doveton currently occupies fourth, Altona is just one point behind and still has its destiny is in its own hands.
“We’ve got to treat every game from here on end as a final,” Warr said. “It’s that close. If we can beat the Wolves this week, that should put them out of contention. Then we’d just have to beat Doveton.”
New recruit Vita Pomale was outstanding for the Roosters with six tries in the rout of the Titans. Pomale has just arrived from WA as a mid-season transfer and is a nice addition for the finals push.
Chad Jones provided energy on the wing, while Jonathan Toetu worked hard at lock.
Warr was impressed with his side’s attention to detail for the full 80 minutes.
“It’s hard to stick to your guns in a game like that, but we did and it was a good boost for us,” he said.
“We were even waiting for the kick-off to try to get to 100 points but they didn’t get to the kick-off in time.”
