Roosters throw finals race wide open with big win against Broncos

Led by star five-eighth Luke Keary, who scored a try and laid on two of his side's five others, the Roosters put themselves within two points of the top four and with a chance of leapfrogging South Sydney into seventh place.

Roosters enforcer Victor Radley also played a starring role in the win after being forced from the field to have six stitches inserted in a cut above his left eye following a head clash with Jake Turpin and returning to inspire his team-mates.  

For the Broncos, the loss puts them in danger of dropping out of top four contention following back to back defeats by Wests Tigers and the Roosters.

Match snapshot

• The Roosters showed they meant business from the outset, scoring three tries in the opening 15 minutes and having another disallowed.
• Halfback Sam Walker was denied in the opening minutes but the Roosters continued to attack Brisbane's right side defence and a James Tedesco tip on pass saw Paul Momirovski score in the sixth minute.
• After being denied himself, Walker turned provider with a piece of individual brilliance in which he chipped over the Broncos defence after noticing fullback Tesi Nui up in the line and Nat Butcher streaked through to touch down before the ball went dead.
• The Roosters again found success by attacking Brisbane's right edge when five-eighth Luke Keary put second-rower Angus Crichton over in the 15th minute to give the home team an 18-0 lead.
• A heavy tackle by Broncos hooker Jake Turpin, which left Roosters lock Victor Radley with blood literally pouring from a cut above his left eye, turned momentum midway through the first half.
• Winger Corey Oates scored his first try in the 20th minute after five-eighth Ezra Mam drifted across the face of the Roosters defence before linking with Kurt Capewell to create space for the Maroons representative. 
• Oates then went from hero to villain when he slipped attempting to position himself to field the kick-off and stumbled over the dead ball line but the Broncos survived and the scores remained 18-4 at halftime.
• The second half began in similar fashion to the first, with Butcher scoring his second try in the 43rd minute when he swivelled out of an attempted tackle by Mam after running onto a short pass from Keary.
• Oates again provided hope for the Broncos when he scored in the 59th minute but an individual try by Keary, who dummied his way past Capewell, all but sealed the win with 13 minutes remaining. 
• Capewell made amends with a 72nd minute try to narrow the deficit to 30-16 but it was too little too late and Roosters star rookie Joseph Suaalii completed the scoring four minutes before fulltime. 

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Source: NRL.com