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Roosters can catch Storm: Taukeiaho

The Sydney Roosters are one win behind Melbourne with five games to go as the race for the NRL minor premiership heats up.

Sio Siua Taukeiaho
Sio Siua Taukeiaho believes the Roosters can reel in the Storm to claim the NRL minor premiership. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Sydney Roosters forward Sio Siua Taukeiaho insists there is enough time for his team to snatch the minor premiership from Melbourne - and recent history proves he's not wrong.

With five games to go in the season, the ladder-leading Storm are red-hot favourites to take the $100,000 prizemoney for finishing first past the post.

However as he looks towards Sunday's crunch NRL clash against Manly, Taukeiaho hasn't given up hope of his club claiming what would be their fourth JJ Giltinan shield in five years.

The Roosters have won six of their past seven games to sit just one win behind the Storm and are likely to get injured co-captains Jake Friend and Boyd Cordner back in the next fortnight.

"I'm confident we can get them. There's a few things we need to work on, but looking at the way we're performing, and when our captains are back, we can go after them," Taukeiaho told AAP.

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Over the past three years, the team leading the competition after round 21 have faltered in the final five weeks of the competition.

In 2014, Manly were ahead by two wins before being run down by the Roosters.

In 2015, the Tricolours were also two wins behind before chasing down Brisbane.

Last year, Cronulla led the Storm by a point before eventually being overrun in the final game.

And while the Storm are on track to lift the shield following last week's walloping of Manly, Taukeiaho insists the Roosters are in a similar vein of form.

"It was good to come away with a win against the Cowboys (last week). That's the standard we've set, and we don't have to change too much from that performance," he said.

Taukeiaho looms as an X-factor for the Roosters in their premiership tilt this year, especially after churning out an impressive 200 metres in just 40 minutes against the Cowboys.

He also scored a key second-half try and broke six tackles, drawing comparisons to Cowboys opponent and reigning co-Dally M winner Jason Taumalolo.

"It's something I don't think I've done before. I've done 160 or 170, but to get 200 is something I'm really stoked about. I'm really happy about getting that," Taukeiaho said.


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