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THE Sydney Roosters are strutting toward the grand final on the strength of an extraordinary sequence of good fortune, with seven lucky breaks going their way so far in the finals.
Scrums against the feed, intercept passes, 80th-minute field goals, opposition injuries - the Roosters have led a charmed life."Someone smarter than me once said: 'The harder you train, the luckier you get'," Roosters chief executive Steve Noyce said.
No one doubts the Roosters deserve to be playing in week three of the finals, but there is no denying the cards have fallen in favour of the Bondi club.
The Roosters' run of good luck has featured Braith Anasta's late field goal against Wests Tigers, Shaun Kenny-Dowall's intercept, Benji Marshall's punch that cost his side a try, a scrum win against the feed, along with key Panthers Luke Lewis and Michael Jennings coming off injured last Saturday night.
Titans coach John Cartwright is refusing to concede his opponents are on a lucky streak with the two teams to battle for a place in the grand final at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow night.
"You make your own luck," Cartwright said. "I think luck gets shared around throughout a season.
"It is a matter of taking advantage of your opportunities.
"A few games in the finals could have gone either way. But the team that handled the adversity best went on to win the match.
"The Roosters have all the ingredients of a great side. They will probably have the NSW halves next season [Mitchell Pearce and Todd Carney], they have great front-rowers, the former Golden Boot winner at the back [Anthony Minichiello] and the form centre in Shaun Kenny-Dowall."
Luck or not, the Roosters - wooden spooners in 2009 - are just 80 minutes from the grand final after winning 16 of 26 matches this season.
"As I said, the harder you train, the luckier you get," Noyce said. "And we have trained really hard.
"We have given ourselves a strong chance in each of our finals games.
"When you look back you tend to think things went your way.
"The reality is we were two seconds from not playing any more, but we managed to jag a win [against the Tigers].
"Last week they [Penrith] were down in troops and we got away with the win. We will head to Brisbane with smiles on our faces."
Scrums against the feed, intercept passes, 80th-minute field goals, opposition injuries - the Roosters have led a charmed life."Someone smarter than me once said: 'The harder you train, the luckier you get'," Roosters chief executive Steve Noyce said.
No one doubts the Roosters deserve to be playing in week three of the finals, but there is no denying the cards have fallen in favour of the Bondi club.
The Roosters' run of good luck has featured Braith Anasta's late field goal against Wests Tigers, Shaun Kenny-Dowall's intercept, Benji Marshall's punch that cost his side a try, a scrum win against the feed, along with key Panthers Luke Lewis and Michael Jennings coming off injured last Saturday night.
Titans coach John Cartwright is refusing to concede his opponents are on a lucky streak with the two teams to battle for a place in the grand final at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow night.
"You make your own luck," Cartwright said. "I think luck gets shared around throughout a season.
"It is a matter of taking advantage of your opportunities.
"A few games in the finals could have gone either way. But the team that handled the adversity best went on to win the match.
"The Roosters have all the ingredients of a great side. They will probably have the NSW halves next season [Mitchell Pearce and Todd Carney], they have great front-rowers, the former Golden Boot winner at the back [Anthony Minichiello] and the form centre in Shaun Kenny-Dowall."
Luck or not, the Roosters - wooden spooners in 2009 - are just 80 minutes from the grand final after winning 16 of 26 matches this season.
"As I said, the harder you train, the luckier you get," Noyce said. "And we have trained really hard.
"We have given ourselves a strong chance in each of our finals games.
"When you look back you tend to think things went your way.
"The reality is we were two seconds from not playing any more, but we managed to jag a win [against the Tigers].
"Last week they [Penrith] were down in troops and we got away with the win. We will head to Brisbane with smiles on our faces."
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