Heart of Sydney: Roosters Run Riot in Brisbane

The Roosters made a statement on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium with a dominant 40-18 victory over the Broncos, who are counting the cost following two major injury blows. 

A first-half double from Angus Crichton and a second-half brace from Terrell May did much of the damage on the scoreboard, with the Tricolours led brilliantly by captain James Tedesco who had 227 metres, two try assists and nine tackle breaks. 

While the defeat will be of concern to coach Kevin Walters, even more devastating was the loss of skipper Adam Reynolds to a suspected biceps injury which could sideline him long term.

Reliable winger Jesse Arthars also faces a long stint out after suffering a broken jaw in the first half. 

The final scoreline in some ways didn't do justice to what was a high-quality game, with the Roosters only pulling away in the final quarter and with Brisbane having their fair share of bad luck on the injury front to contend with. 

Earlier it had been the hosts who made the better start, with Jordan Riki charging onto an Ezra Mam short ball for first points, before Joey Manu grabbed an offload flung back in field from Dom Young to reply. 

After Brisbane lost Arthars the Roosters struck twice in the space of 11 minutes through Angus Crichton to take an 18-6 lead into the sheds. 

The injury situation got much worse six minutes into the second period when Reynolds went down, but on the field Brisbane didn't let it faze them and they ran in two tries in as many minutes to tie scores with half an hour to play. 

Reece Walsh was the key figure in both efforts, setting up Kotoni Staggs before making space for Mam to weave through. 

But that was the end of the reasons to celebrate, with Deine Mariner soon ending up in the sin bin for a shoulder charge and Tedesco promptly sparking his side back into life. 

A double followed to May, before Young scored in the corner to bring up 40 with nine minutes to play.