Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson has asked his senior players to step up against South Sydney in the absence of the team's four stars locked away in State of Origin camps.
Mitchell Pearce, Blake Ferguson, Boyd Cordner and Dylan Napa will all be missing from the fourth-placed Roosters in Friday night's grudge match with the Rabbitohs at Allianz Stadium.
The Roosters have lost their only other pre-Origin match this season, while the in-form Souths haven't lost any players to the representative arena.
"We need some players that are our senior players, or ones that are just below that, to come and deliver tomorrow night," Robinson said.
"It does allow opportunity for other players to step up, and that's what we're looking for."
The Roosters were thwarted 44-12 by reigning premiers Cronulla in round 17 last week while the Bunnies flogged the Penrith Panthers 44-14.
However they still have three players with Origin experience in Michael Gordon, Aidan Guerra and Daniel Tupou, while Jared Waera-Hargreaves and Sio Suia Taukeiaho have also played Tests for New Zealand.
The Roosters will drop out of the top four with a loss, for the first time since May.
And the experienced group are well aware they bare the brunt of the responsibility, as the Roosters aim to bounce back from last Saturday's flat loss to Cronulla.
"I'm not going to say that I'm going to shoulder all the responsibility but as a forward pack, we do have to make up for those forwards," Guerra said.
"It's going to be hard to fill Pearcey's shoes but I think, as a side, we know what we've got to do."
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