Injuries make Roosters' task harder
The Sydney Roosters are leaning on the hard lessons learnt from their horror opening to the NRL season after Mitchell Pearce and Boyd Cordner were struck down by injury.
Cordner (foot) is out for for to six weeks while Pearce will miss at least Sunday's clash with Wests Tigers after suffering a calf strain at training.
The double blow comes at an inopportune time for the Roosters, who are desperately trying to salvage their season after being cruelled by injuries in the opening two months, consigning them to second last on the ladder.
Coach Trent Robinson says after they recorded just one win from their opening eight matches, his side needs to show some fighting spirit without stars Pearce and Cordner against the Tigers.
"We have to make sure we do what we want to do tomorrow," Robinson said.
"We've had a week off and we've had time to reflect on the start of the season. We know how we want to perform tomorrow.
"We haven't been able to achieve that as often as we'd like and we've got to go out there and achieve that in a while."
Robinson was tight-lipped about Pearce's replacement and could recall young playmaker Jackson Hastings after he was dropped to NSW Cup for the side's loss to Gold Coast before the bye.
