The Sydney Roosters have smashed Brisbane 58-12 to take their season tally against the Broncos to 117 points in just two miserable games for Queensland’s old glamour club.
In an absolute flogging at the SCG, the Roosters backed up their 59-0 mauling of Brisbane in June with another domination in the same week Anthony Seibold saw the door.
It made the overall score 117-12 between the clubs, with the Roosters looking every bit the side that was 105 points superior.
Josh Morris and second-rower Sitili Tupouniua scored doubles, while James Tedesco scored one and had a hand in five others.
And the scariest bit: The Roosters still looked a fair way from their best at times as they inched one step closer to wrapping up a top-four spot.
They’ll have Sonny Bill Williams next week, with Luke Keary and Angus Crichton also set to return in the blockbuster against Canberra.
Meanwhile Brisbane were horrible, proving Seibold’s exit was never going to immediately fix their problems as they edged closer to a maiden wooden spoon.
They missed 23 tackles in the first half alone and Joe Ofahengaue was put on report for dropping his knee on the head of an already concussed Jake Friend.
Ofahengaue then gave away another penalty on the next play, before making a simple miss on Isaac Liu to let him score under the post immediately after.
It summed up the night in defence for the Broncos.
Tupouniua’s first came off a nice short ball from Tedesco, as he hit and bounced through Patrick Carrigan from close distance.
His second was far softer on the same right edge.
Running a hard line, David Fifita barely got a hand on the Roosters second-rower while Darius Boyd watched him run right past.
However that shouldn’t take anything away from the 23-year-old’s performance.
In easily his best game in Roosters’ colours, he also shrugged off Sean O’Sullivan and got a ball back inside to Kyle Flanagan in the lead up to another try.
Flanagan raced down field and put James Tedesco over, with the fullback scoring his first try in 10 weeks for the two-time defending premiers.
And when most teams would have pulled up after half time, three of the tricolours’ six tries after the break came from long range with some razzle dazzle.
Josh Morris had a hand in all three of them, scoring the first, creating the second for Daniel Tupou and putting on a fend and ball to start the third for Nat Butcher.
Again, Butcher ran through two Broncos then put a step on the retiring Boyd at the back in another sign this season can’t end soon enough for him and Brisbane.
Their only real highlight came in the form of a 70-metre effort from Kotoni Staggs, while Fifita also ran through three defenders to score in the second half.