Sydney Roosters halfback Mitchell Pearce says a week of soul searching and getting back to basics was the catalyst for Saturday’s 56-4 win over Parramatta.

It was the perfect response by the Roosters after their round one defeat to bitter rivals South Sydney nine days earlier against a side who went into the game on the back of comprehensive win over the Warriors in round one.

Pearce had an outstanding game for the reigning premiers, who chalked up a half-century of points against the Eels at Allianz Stadium for the second successive year.

It was also the club’s record win over Parramatta, who were brought firmly back down to earth following the excitement of their 36-16 victory last Sunday.

“Our energy was really good and we stuck to our stuff really well,” Pearce said.

“We wanted to get off to a good start and that is what we did and we certainly needed after last week, it’s been a long 10 days since we lost to Souths and we’ve worked hard.

“We spoke all week about getting into the grind and when our forwards wind up like that and give it to our outside backs in support it hurts teams.

“It’s what we did last year and it’s good to be doing it again so early in the season.”

The win was highlighted by a first ever hat-trick of Anthony Minichiello’s 15-year career with the evergreen fullback showing he is still a top class finisher.

Minichiello had 122 tries to his name before his treble against the Eels and the veteran was delighted with his milestone moment.

“It took me a while didn’t it,” Minichiello said.

“I got some good support play from Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Mitch Aubusson so it was good to finish them off.”

The former NSW star’s display was also hailed by his coach Trent Robinson.

“I think it was a feature of our play tonight his support play,” Robinson said.

“It was really classy performance and he got brought down a couple of times, so was unlucky not to get more.”