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'Full confidence': soaring Roosters yet to hit top gear
Darren Walton, AAP •  August 18th, 2026 7:00 pm
Sydney Roosters celebrate a try | Photo: AAP
Believing they can find another gear, the Sydney Roosters insist it's business as usual after morphing from the NRL's hunters to the hunted.
The Roosters are suddenly challenging Penrith for title favouritism after taking down the Panthers last Thursday night in one of the defensive displays of the year.
While the Panthers have suffered five losses in eight games, the Roosters are riding a seven-match win streak to be firmly on track to snatch the minor premiership after the Panthers started the season in seemingly untouchable fashion.
And veteran forward Nat Butcher maintains Trent Robinson's new competition pacesetters won't be changing a thing in the countdown to the finals, starting on Sunday against Wests Tigers.
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"It's just business as usual for the Roosters. We're not too worried about that result (against Penrith). We know where we want to go, but we're just taking it week by week at the moment," Butcher said on Tuesday.
"We're really clear on our system, clear on executing it and we're just keeping to training that and then hopefully play that this weekend.
"We feel like we've been building throughout the year but, honestly, it's what we've been doing during the week of training. That's where it starts and I feel like we're nailing that, setting ourselves up for a good week and then, through that, we're able to perform on the weekend."
Even more impressively, the Roosters have beaten Canterbury and Penrith without game-breaking fullback James Tedesco, who returns from an ankle sprain to face the lowly Tigers at Allianz Stadium.
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