Second half fade outs a worry for Roosters

AAP | 11/05/08 | 0

Sydney Roosters star Braith Anasta fears second half complacency will come back to haunt his side in the near future after again failing to kick on with a dominant start to an NRL match.
   
The Roosters blasted Canberra off the paddock with a 22-0 opening stanza at the Sydney Football Stadium last night but fell away from their game plan to claim a 30-4 victory.
   
Prop Mark O'Meley scored a soft 79th minute try for the Roosters, but alarmingly it was only the club's first second half try in their past three games.
   
The Roosters were held scoreless in the final 40 minutes against both St George Illawarra and Newcastle and it is a worrying trend for the premiership contenders.
   
In 2008 they've scored more than double their points in the opening half (122 to 60) and have only outscored their opponents in the second half in three of eight games.
   
Five-eighth Anasta said the second half fade outs are a concern and could eventually cost the Roosters an important game.
   
"We got in a huddle there after the game and that was what we said ... against a different team they could have made us pay in the second half," said Anasta.
   
"(Melbourne) would have made us pay for sure.
   
"We spoke about it at halftime and we just went away from our game plan a little bit. It was a combination of a few things, blokes backing up (from Centenary Test) and a few injuries too.
   
"We've still got to work on it, it's something we definitely have to improve on."
   
Coach Brad Fittler says his only concern about the second half fade outs is that the team are reverting to a negative style of football instead of going for the kill and blowing teams away.
   
"We sort of went into our shell a little bit," he said.
   
"We still won the second half (8-4 against Canberra). The game turned a bit sloppy and a bit dour.
   
"We found touch a couple of times when normally we kept it in.
   
"It sort of took the foot off in the matter and our footy followed it too. We got a bit negative, I suppose they're things we need to look at."

We've still got to work on it, it's something we definitely have to improve on Braith Anasta, Roosters five-eighth