Match-winning five-eighth James Maloney says the Sydney Roosters always knew they were okay despite successive defeats and that patience was a big factor in their NRL minor premiership-clinching win over South Sydney.

Maloney scored two tries and contributed 16 valuable points in the Roosters’ 24-12 win at ANZ Stadium on Friday night.

With halfback Mitchell Pearce also prominent and forward Sonny Bill Williams running riot, the Roosters had too much firepower for Souths.

“We’re going to have to be bigger and better next week, so we’ve got to forget about this one now and move on to that,” Maloney told AAP.

After conceding 30 or more points in their previous two games, both of which they lost, the Roosters rediscovered defensive intensity.

“There was probably a lot of talk through the week from the media that we were out of sorts but, in house, we sort of knew we were right,” Maloney said.

“There were obviously some things we needed to correct from the last couple of weeks but it was nice to get the defence back tonight.

“That was probably a focus of ours and it was nice to do it.

“I think we we’re playing with a little bit more patience, which is something we needed to make sure we do.

“I suppose those two things go hand in hand – when you can play a bit more patient football and your defence is holding up, it goes a long way to winning.”

Try-saving tackles by captain and veteran fullback Anthony Minichiello on Nathan Merritt, and young forward Dylan Napa on Sam Burgess, highlighted the renewed commitment to defence.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson said his halves took greater control against Souths than they had in other games over the past month.

“We had a chat with Robbo through the week, it was probably a little bit of a mindset thing,” Maloney said.

“We knew there wasn’t a whole wrong, there were little things.”

The only potentially dark cloud on the Roosters’ horizon is a report on prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves for catching Chris McQueen with a forearm to the head.