Riddle of the Roosters: Why does the NRL’s most talented team fluctuate so wildly?

June 5, 2026 — 5:00am

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Cooper Cronk said it without saying it in the Fox Sports studios earlier this week.

“I think the Roosters, when they centralise their attack around [the] midfield, they’re the best attacking team around the midfield in the NRL,” the two-time Tricolours premiership-winner began.

“So when they generate that quick play-the-ball through their power forwards, they’ve taken advantage of it by playing forward through the [defensive] gaps. On the weekend [against Melbourne], they started passing away from that game.”

What Cronk didn’t answer was the question exasperated Roosters fans ask themselves all too frequently: Why?

Why did a representative-class spine of James Tedesco, Daly Cherry-Evans, Sam Walker and Reece Robson start swinging them from side to side as they coughed the ball up 18 times against the Storm?

How does the NRL’s most talented roster still leave you wondering about their premiership bona fides despite sitting third with a 7-4 record halfway through the........

© Brisbane Times