Keary knows Roosters are better than seventh. Now they have to prove that in finals

When he looks back on the last six weeks of the season, Luke Keary just has to laugh. The Sydney Roosters aren’t used to relying on other teams to sneak them into finals, especially when the playing group believes they’re much better than what they were putting out on the park.

It’s all well and good to rate yourself higher than your ladder finish though—you have to show it too. Keary knows this, and promises the Roosters are ready to prove it in a finals run.

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First up, Cronulla tonight at 7.50pm in the blockbuster Saturday evening slot. Keary knows a trip to Shark Park away is as tricky as it gets, but he expects the tricolours to rise to the challenge and show more than they did in the first slice of the year. Beating Cronulla would wave away those bubbling external doubts, Keary suggests.

“People didn’t think we were much of a chance even a month, six weeks ago… but we always had belief we could string a few together,” the chooks five-eighth told media this week.

“We knew the type of footy we were capable of. Over the last month, we’ve definitely seen some glimpses of that, but we haven’t really put it together properly yet so we’ll be looking to do that this weekend. There was always a belief inside the playing group, inside these walls, we thought we could get the job done we needed to.

“Our attacks starting to look pretty good and our defense has been a feature for us this last month.

One focus, the Roosters playmaker added, was adding the finishing touches to that already solid rearguard, especially after two slip-ups in their grudge-match battle against South Sydney: “We did have a few disappointing tries [against the Rabbitohs]. I thought we did enough to shut them out but we conceded those two and we know that this time of year the best defense can get you there all the way to the last day.

Keary added it’s also “disappointing” Sydney had to hope other teams, especially the Panthers against the Cowboys, had to get the job done, but making finals was all that mattered and they rode the eventual premiers home in the final round.

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“We put ourselves in a position where we had to rely on other things which is disappointing—and thank god those two teams got it done for us—but we’re here now so let’s go.”