Trent Robinson has slammed his side’s lack of mental strength after the Roosters suffered a shock loss to the Wests Tigers, moving them from first to third on the NRL ladder.
Starting strong by scoring inside the opening two minutes, the Roosters missed several try-scoring opportunities and made a string of errors which allowed the Tigers back into the contest.
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This saw Robinson frustrated by his side’s lack of execution and decision-making as the Tricolours struggled on both ends of the field in attack and defence.
“I feel like we had lots of guys taking a breath at different times when they shouldn’t have,” Robinson said post-match.
“Whether it was moving off a short side onto the open side. Whether it was winning a tackle, whether it was a chase back that they needed to make.
“We made more choices tonight than we’ve made in a long time. And usually you’re just supposed to do them.
“I said that’s up to the seventeen guys, but that’s probably up to our wider squad and myself as well to try to sort of write that (off) pretty quickly.”
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Asked whether there had been an emotional comedown from the club’s victory last week against the Penrith Panthers, Robinson conceded they were simply not mentally strong enough.
The coach admitted that if they had maintained the same connection and discipline they’d shown in recent weeks, the result would have been different.
“It’s always hard to say what the answer is, but the reality was that’s what happened,” he added.
“I can sit here and say it didn’t, but we weren’t as mentally strong today as what we needed to be, and that was the truth.
“If we were mentally strong, we would have made those choices that I was saying about coming off the short side or chasing back or finishing off that play or catching the ball.
“If we were on and I’m talking about all 17 connected – the coaching box (and) the wider squad.
“If we’re all connected, we make those choices and we didn’t. Wherever it came from, we didn’t get that right today so mindset and skillset suffered today.”
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Robinson continued, saying the Roosters failed to build on their strong start and field position, which could have allowed them to take control of the contest.
“(It was a) poor game from us. We started the game (off well), scored the first try, earned enough field position there (but) poor execution of opportunities,” he elaborated.
“Then opened the door a few times on the left edge there for tries and came back 12-all, opened the door again.
“We know this year that we’ve been good at handling different scorelines and how to attack that, so that was a position out of today.
“But to not honour your style of play was really disappointing today.”