Mark Nawaqanitawase made an immediate mark in his return for the Roosters, intercepting an Ethan Sanders pass near the tryline before finishing in the corner as the ball went right against the Raiders in Canberra.
The try came in the kind of live NRL moment that can swing a tight contest quickly. It also came as the Roosters continued to lean on a defence that has generally held up, even as they have been giving away far too much with the ball in hand, with 13.3 errors per game this season.
That gave the Roosters a useful foothold in a match that had already started to tilt through sharp little shifts. Sam Walker had sent up a towering bomb into the in-goal, Xavier Savage had burst clear down the sideline before play was pulled back for a strip, and Billy Smith had spilled Daine Laurie's grubber to hand Canberra a strong tryscoring chance. Laurie was in the centres for Canberra after playing at lock the previous week, another sign of how quickly the shapes were changing around the ball.
The Raiders also had to manage a more worrying moment when Savelio Tamale landed awkwardly and hit his head hard on the ground, forcing him off for a HIA. That left Canberra searching for a response while the Roosters tried to build on Nawaqanitawase's return, a personal and timely boost for a side still trying to clean up its own mistakes.
The wider NRL picture was busy as well, with Melbourne beating Newcastle 32-30 earlier in the day and Xavier Coates watching that game at AAMI Park on Friday night in a moon-boot on his left leg and using a scooter. Coates, a 25-year-old, is set to miss the rest of the season after injuring his Achilles in pre-season, then suffering another injury at training on Friday, and he said of the latest setback: “I was running and it just popped,” and “I was only running at about 50 per cent and it just went.”
For the Roosters, the immediate question is whether Nawaqanitawase's return can steady a team that still gives away too much in errors while keeping enough control to turn a strong start in Canberra into something more lasting.
