Roosters Not Making Mark
Illawarra Mercury
Wednesday March 21, 2007
SOUTH Sydney coach Jason Taylor is sure rival NRL teams will continue attacking the Roosters' controversial one-marker tactic after it was brutally exposed by the Rabbitohs on Monday night.
Souths had the Roosters on the back foot throughout Monday night's game as they ran at will from dummy half, hooker Daniel Irvine and centre Shannon Hegarty eating up the metres in a relentless attack up the middle.It gave the Rabbitohs the impetus and field position from which they were able to build an impressive 18-6 win.Taylor admitted he was a little surprised the Roosters persisted with the tactic, which involved only one player staying at the play-the-ball area and the other retreating the 10m to reinforce the defensive line. "When you make so many easy yards it's pretty tiring going backwards all the time in defence," Taylor said. Roosters coach Chris Anderson refused to write off the ploy, which also cost his side a penalty when the one marker was nabbed by referee Paul Simpkins for being in "no-man's land". "I don't think it cost us anything. I don't think it gained us anything," Anderson said.
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