Altona Roosters broke their shackles with an impressive 48-24 win over title-holders Sunbury United Tigers in NRL Victoria’s first grade match.
Players put an excruciating eight-game losing streak behind them in a double-the-score win at a chilly Loft Reserve on Saturday.
It was the Roosters’ first taste of success since the opening round victory over Northern Thunder in April, but it did not exactly come out of the blue, coach Brandon Taonoa said.
Taonoa has seen performances improve over the past month and could sense they were in the mood to break the drought after a positive training session in the lead-up.
“We trained well on Thursday and carried it on to the weekend,” Taonoa told
Star Weekly. “It was a good win, I’m very proud of the boys.”
It was a hard-earned win for the Roosters, as the two sides went back and forth.
Josh Tauai was the circuit breaker for Altona. The second rower scored two tries and could not be curtailed by the Tigers’ defensive line.
“He did some damage for us,” Taonoa said.
“He kept breaking their line and making it hard for Sunbury to catch him.”
Siale Fifita and also scored a pair of tries for the Roosters.
Josh Hurinui capped a fine game at lock with a try.
Any miniscule chance at finals heading into the game vanished for the Roosters after results from other grounds filtered in. Despite being out of the picture, the next month is important for the young side. There are blockbuster games against four of the top five teams coming in the next four rounds.
“Even if we can’t make the top four, it’s all about pride for us at the moment,” Taonoa said.
“We’re trying to get some experience into the young players. Hopefully, it will make them a better team next year,” he said. “We’re going to go out there and have a bit of fun, and try and upset these teams going to the finals.”
The Roosters will travel to premiership contenders Casey Warriors on Saturday.
