The Sydney Roosters have taken a giant leap towards back-to-back NRL premierships after Luke Keary sparked the Tri-Colours to a 30-6 finals romp over South Sydney.
The Roosters are now one game away from the grand final after putting in arguably the most dominant performance of the season in their qualifying final victory over the Rabbitohs at the SCG on Friday night.
After being toppled by the Rabbitohs just eight days earlier, Keary returned to lead his side to a six-tries-to-one rout in front of a crowd of 30,370.
Skipper Boyd Cordner sent a scare through the Roosters camp when he limped off seven minutes before the break with a quad injury.
With his side leading 26-0 at the break, Roosters coach Trent Robinson had no need to risk him in the second-half and kept him on the sideline.
Winger Daniel Tupou also left the field in the second half with a groin injury.
The Rabbitohs were without inspirational skipper Sam Burgess (suspension) and Dane Gagai (hamstring) however that didn’t account for the size of the scoreline.
They simply had no answer for the Roosters’ speed and skill and will now meet either Manly or Cronulla in a do-or-die semi-final next week.
After missing last week’s loss to the Rabbitohs due to the birth of his first child, Keary was dynamic, setting up three of his side’s six tries.
The Roosters went into their shells for the first 20 minutes of the second half but Keary sparked them to life, booting a 40-20 before double-pumping to shoot Latrell Mitchell over.
Earlier, things started badly for the Rabbitohs when Alex Johnston knocked it dead with his side’s first touch, Joey Manu eventually running over James Roberts and Corey Allan for first points in the next set.
And it didn’t get much better for Wayne Bennett’s men from there.
All year it’s been widely predicted that there are few sides who can go with the Roosters when they hit full throttle and they showed why when they laid on a sparkling team try finished off by Mitchell Aubusson in the 11th minute.
The Rabbitohs night was summed up when Victor Radley stabbed in a grubber from dummy-half, Tevita Tatola failed to ground it and Siosiua Taukeiaho won the race to the ball.
The Roosters had heroes all over the park – Jared Waerea-Hargreaves beat a careless high tackle charge at the judiciary during the week and was instrumental with 148 metres, Brett Morris was unflappable in his 250th game while Manu dominated down the right edge for the second straight week.