Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Lachlan Lam say they are looking forward to ripping in and celebrating the career of former teammate and captain Jake Friend on Saturday night as the Roosters celebrate the career of a Club Legend.
The veteran and rookie both reminisced on Friend's influence on their careers, both sharing their experiences and the lessons their former skipper shared.
"He's been our warrior," an emotional Waerea-Hargreaves said.
"He's stood out on that pitch for 260-odd games and presented in one style. This week we get to represent him, be proud of what he's done for us.
"Personally he's done a lot for me, my family and my career so it will be an honour to represent my little roomie this weekend."
"I've known him since I was very little so it's special to celebrate him at the SCG this weekend," Lam added.
"Even out of playing the position, just how to deal with footy in general he has always been a good leader and mentor and someone you look up to.
"Jake has been our captain for a long time, he's someone we all look up to, and if we're going to celebrate him this week then a win is definitely what we'll be looking for."
Round 11 Media - Lachlan Lam
For the young five-eighth, the Magic Round win against the Cowboys marked a welcomed return to the field after suffering an MCL injury in Round 3, and the 22-year-old did his chances of nailing down the no.6 jersey no harm with a handful of try assists in a strong performance.
"It felt good," he said of his return.
"It's been a couple, well, six weeks since I've been out there. I trained really hard in the pre-season which gave me the base to come back.
"I don't think it ended up being rushed because we had that extra week there in the bubble, I ended up feeling pretty good.
This week we get to represent him, be proud of what he's done for us. Personally he's done a lot for me, my family and my career so it will be an honour to represent my little roomie this weekend.
Jared Waerea-Hargreaves On Jake Friend
"Sammy (Walker) and I are still learning but I think it's good to be around the likes of the older boys like Teddy (James Tedesco) and Jared (Waerea-Hargreaves) and those guys.
"We're learning on the run."
While the Red, White and Blue stamped down a return to form with a 30-16 win at Suncorp Stadium, Waerea-Hargreaves said he was determined to see more improvement from the young side as they take on the Broncos on Saturday afternoon.
"It was good, and we were really happy to go up there and play our style of footy," he said.
"There's still plenty of room to improve. There were a couple of disappointing tries there. We pride ourselves on holding our cool there and defending for each other but obviously, we'll address that this week.
"It was a gutsy win and I'm really proud of our lads and hopefully we can reproduce that this week."
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