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Wounded Roosters brace for NRL local derby

The Sydney Roosters are desperate to bounce back against South Sydney following their NRL flogging at the hands of Cronulla.

Sydney Roosters captain Jake Friend
Jake Friend says the Sydney Roosters were taught an NRL lesson against Cronulla. (AAP)

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Source: AAP


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Skipper Jake Friend insists it's going to be easy for the Sydney Roosters to find something special for their NRL showdown with arch-rivals South Sydney.

The Roosters were on Monday forced to sit through a marathon video session and have their failings pulled apart by the coaching staff following a 44-12 mauling from Cronulla.

It's said that one game doesn't make a season, and Trent Robinson's men remain right in the hunt in fourth spot but it was a deflating result for a side who had been one of the competition benchmarks.

If the Roosters are to get back in the winner's circle they'll have to do it without their Origin contingent of Mitchell Pearce, Boyd Cordner, Blake Ferguson and Dylan Napa.

And they will have to overcome a South Sydney team high on confidence after the Rabbitohs flogged Penrith on Sunday.

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"It's pretty easy to get up for games like these," Friend said.

"There's a lot of pride in a lot of blokes and it's a competitive sport, you want to win. More than winning, we want to keep getting better.

"The last two weeks haven't been good enough, we lucked out against Melbourne but we got a lesson on the weekend by Cronulla."

Friend sent a strong message to the club's supporters ahead of what is traditionally their most-anticipated game of the year, admitting they failed to get into the grind against the Sharks.

The lopsided nature of the contest is demonstrated in the fact the Roosters No.9 was forced to make 66 tackles while Sharks skipper Paul Gallen was his side's top tackler with 22.

A loss to the Rabbitohs, unaffected by Origin, will see the Roosters slip out of the top four as Friend said their capitulation against the Sharks was difficult to accept.

"We didn't go toe to toe with them," Friend said.

"The start of the game we sort of did that but it was going to take longer than we were willing to put in.

"It's one of those weeks you get taught a lesson, you come in, you do your video and now we get to fix it."


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