Brisbane’s injury woes have deepened with Adam Reynolds suffering an ugly concussion before the defending premiers fell short of a record comeback in a 38-24 loss to the Sydney Roosters.
After the Roosters shot out to a 30-0 lead just after halftime, Reece Walsh exploded to life and Brisbane were able to fight back to 30-24 with 13 minutes to play at Allianz Stadium.
But a Patrick Carrigan error and a Kotoni Staggs brain-snap killed off the comeback, with the latter sin-binned for an elbow to Hugo Savala’s head before the Roosters pulled away.
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On a chaotic and brutal Saturday night, Roosters Lindsay Collins (concussion), Mark Nawaqanitawase (ankle) and Angus Crichton (knee) were all hurt less than four weeks out from State of Origin I.
Nawaqanitawase’s injury also paved the way for Cody Ramsey to make an inspirational return to the NRL, after 1337 days out and a long battle with ulcerative colitis.
Brisbane’s injury woes are worse, after entering Saturday night in sixth but with 10 players already sidelined.
Reynolds was left groggy after his head went into the turf trying to make a second-half tackle, meaning he will miss next week’s clash with Manly.
Winger Jordan Karapani also suffered an ankle injury in a hip-drop tackle from Victor Radley, forcing him off the field and Deine Mariner back on after he too suffered a cork.
For 50 minutes on Saturday night the Roosters’ attack was red hot, having now run in 205 points across a five-match winning streak.
James Tedesco threatened with every touch at No.1, with the former NSW captain’s case for State of Origin recall growing stronger every week.
Reece Robson is also helping his own chances, with a good run out of dummy-half and quick play-the-ball helping Tedesco send Daly Cherry-Evans over for the Roosters’ first.
Radley’s return at lock has also added an extra bow to the Roosters’ attack, digging into the line in the lead up to their second before Daniel Tupou joined Billy Slater on 190 career tries.
Naufahu Whyte was immense up front with 188 running metres, while Sam Walker set up one try with a grubber and scored one of his own when a Connor Watson kick rebounded off Ezra Mam.
But when Savala bomed a try and was denied by Walsh at 30-0 up early in the second half, the Tri-colours faltered.
Walsh then went over from dummy-half moments later, before stand-in halfback Tom Duffy put Xavier Willison into space.
Carrigan scored after Ramsey put down a Duffy bomb, and it was 30-24 with 13 minutes remaining when Walsh drew in two defenders and put Jordan Riki into a gap.
At that point the biggest comeback in premiership history loomed, only for a Carrigan error to kill off the next attacking raid.
And when Staggs was sin-binned for dropping his elbow into Savala’s head after a tackle was complete, the comeback was over.