The Roosters season is in danger of falling apart, with two of their biggest stars forced from the field with injuries, as they were blown off the park by Penrith.
The Sydney Roosters’ embarrassing 48-4 loss to Penrith has been compounded by an ankle injury to five-eighth Joseph Manu.
The star No.6 suffered suspected ankle ligament damage in the heavy loss to Penrith which could see him set for an extended stint on the sideline.
It’s a disaster for coach Trent Robinson who is also without axed half Sam Walker for a few weeks after he suffered a knee injury.
Robinson said after the match he expected Walker to be available for selection the week after the bye which is round 14 against Canterbury.
The Roosters also lost prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to a pec injury but the club was hopeful it was a minor strain.
Manu was helping Sitili Tupouniua from being driven back in a gang tackle when he fell to the ground clutching his right ankle.
The fill-in five-eighth was helped from the field with suspected ligament damage, and could be set for a lengthy stint on the sideline for the battling Roosters, now five-and-six and out of the top eight.
On top of that enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves lasted only 17 minutes before going off with a pec injury. Waerea-Hargreaves was initially considered a chance to return to the field, but gradually lost strength in his arm, before being ruled out.
They now join an injury ward containing Connor Watson, Daniel Tupou, Paul Momirovski and Egan Butcher.
In a further blow, axed half Sam Walker also missed the Roosters NSW cup game this afternoon, and is expected to miss three weeks with a knee injury.
Alarmingly, hooker Brandon Smith also came from the field with just 20-seconds remaining on the clock.
Pressure is beginning to mount for the Roosters, who have now suffered back-to-back losses after a poor performance against the Cowboys in Magic Round.
Captain James Tedesco labelled his team’s effort “embarrassing.”
“We had a short week [after Sunday’s 20-6 loss to the Cowboys in Brisbane] and we were clear: get back to working hard for each other.
“And we probably did that for ten minutes of the game and that was it.
“It was really hard to be captain and serve that up. It’s embarrassing … try after try, it was hard to keep the boys positive behind the posts,” Tedesco said.
Robinson took full ownership of the loss in the post match press-conference, admitting he failed to get his side ready to compete.
“We are not moving for each other. Things like kick pressures, kick chases have fallen completely away. We got an incredible lesson tonight.”
“You can talk about attack and defence but you can talk about getting the team ready to play and ready to compete and I haven’t done that in the last two weeks.
“We got bitten pretty hard tonight so that’s on me so I have to make sure I get that right and turn it around pretty quickly.”
Originally published as NRL 2023 Round 11 highlights: Penrith Panthers win 48-4 over Sydney Roosters as Joey Manu, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves injured