With finals well and truly out of the equation in 2016, Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall says the final month of the regular season is all about his side reaching their potential.
Injuries have cruelled their tilt at a fourth straight minor premiership, but that doesn't mean the playing group will drop their standards, despite sitting in 15th spot on the Telstra Premiership ladder after 22 rounds.
Having strung together a run of impressive performances, the Roosters finally ended their recent six-game losing streak with a dominant 32-16 win over the Broncos in Round 21, but undid all that hard work against the Panthers on Monday night.
Despite a bright start, the Tricolours were totally outclassed 38-18 at Pepper Stadium; their cause not helped by the late withdrawal of halfback Mitchell Pearce.
"On the back of a win to put in a performance like that, we're very disappointed," Kenny-Dowall said.
"It's sort of been the story of our season. We get a chance to turn it around on Sunday, we've got to move on quickly and we need to start preparing for Sunday's game.
"We have been playing pretty good football over the last month so that was definitely a step backwards for us. It's disappointing, but I think we have to get back to playing the best footy we can and try to play to our potential.
"It's definitely tough to take, but we just want to finish the season well and play to our potential and play to the best we know how. We'll be happy if we can finish off the season with a few wins."
While the Roosters are no chance of playing finals footy this season, this weekend's opponents are battling it out for a crucial top four finish to keep their hopes alive of defending last year's drought-breaking premiership.
This article first appeared on NRL.COM
