The 2010 Sydney Roosters season was the 103rd in the club's history. Having finished with the 'wooden-spoon' (last) in 2009 they competed in the National Rugby League's 2010 Telstra Premiership, finishing 6th (out of 16). The Roosters went on to play in the 2010 NRL Grand Final, losing to the St. George Illawarra Dragons.

Pre-season The Sydney Roosters pre-season schedule begun with a "thank you" testimonial for Todd Carney the club that kept him playing Rugby League, the Atherton Roosters. A match was also scheduled against the New Zealand Warriors in Rotorua one day later. Coach Brian Smith sent a 22-man squad to each destination, with Smith and one of his assistant coaches, Rohan Smith heading to Rotorua and his other assistant coach Trent Robinson taking the other 22-man squad to Atherton.

The team that headed to Atherton won quite convincingly. This match saw Todd Carney score 6 points in the 68-18 win for the Roosters, in which JP Du Plessis scored a hat-trick including a try from his very first touch of the football. The team that flew out to Rotorua, on the other hand, under the leadership of Anthony Minichiello, had much tougher opposition and were well beaten 26-8 under the watchful eye of almost 10,000 supporters.

The following week, the Sydney Roosters are due to play their annual Foundation Cup match against the Wests Tigers. This will be the fourth edition of the match, with the Roosters being victorious on all of the 3 previous occasions.

The Sydney Roosters pre-season schedule concluded with a win against the Parramatta Eels at Central Coast Stadium.

Results Date Round Opponent Venue Result Tries Goals F. Goals Attendance12 FebruaryTrial 1Atherton RoostersNQ Hardware Stadium, Atherton68 - 18Du Plessis (3), Peters, Littlejohn, Unknown (n/a)Carney (3con), Unknown (n/a) 3,00013 FebruaryTrial 2 New Zealand WarriorsRotorua International Stadium, Rotorua 8 - 26Takairangi, Tuigamala 9,60021 FebruaryFoundation Cup Wests TigersSydney Football Stadium, Sydney28 - 10Carney, Cherrington, Kenny-Dowall, PerrettCarney (4con, 2pen) 10,28127 FebruaryTrial 4 Parramatta EelsCentral Coast Stadium, Central Coast40 - 14Minichiello (2), Guerra, Carney, Pearce, Symonds, TuigamalaCarney (6con) 18,111

Regular season

Results The Roosters' season was highlighted by several periods. Firstly, the Chooks made a bright start winning two from two but were flogged by the Canterbury Bulldogs and during the middle of the season the Roosters seemed destined to continue with a win–loss-win-loss pattern. They also won five in a row towards the end of the season, then lost three before coming back to convincingly beat Manly, 30-14. Despite a clear run through the finals, including the almighty 100 minute epic against the Tigers, they lost the Grand Final, 32-8, against St. George Illawarra.

Date Round Opponent Venue Result Tries Goals F. Goals Attendance14, 15 Mar:00Round 1 South Sydney RabbitohsANZ Stadium, Sydney 36 - 10 Pearce (2), Kenny Dowall (2), Guerra, PerrettCarney (5con, 1pen) 23,14921, 15 Mar:00Round 2 Wests TigersSydney Football Stadium, Sydney 44 - 32 Graham (2), Pearce (2), Guerra (2), Minichiello, AubussonCarney (6con) 19,02128, 15 Mar:00Round 3 Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsANZ Stadium, Sydney 14 - 60 Anasta, Pearce, JonesCarney (1con) 19,7382, 20 Apr:35Round 4 Brisbane BroncosSydney Football Stadium, Sydney 25 - 6 Aubusson, Carney (2), MinichielloCarney (4con)Carney (1fieldgoal) 17,10611, 15 Apr:00Round 5 Penrith PanthersCUA Stadium, Penrith6 - 28AubussonCarney (1con) 14,02317, 19 Apr:30Round 6 Canberra RaidersSydney Football Stadium, Sydney36 - 6 Carney (2), Minichiello, Kenny Dowall, Kouparitsas, NuuausalaCarney (4con) Anasta (2con) 9,30825, 16 Apr:00Round 7 St. George Illawarra DragonsSydney Football Stadium, Sydney6 - 28AubussonCarney (1pen) 36,2132, 14 May:00Round 8 Wests TigersCampbelltown Stadium, Campbelltown12 - 8Nuuausala, CarneyCarney (2con) 19,90110, 19 May:00Round 9 North Queensland CowboysSydney Football Stadium, Sydney14 - 32 Kouparitsas, Carney, GrahamCarney (1con) 6,47815, 19 May:30Round 10 Newcastle KnightsBluetongue Stadium, Central Coast 18 - 34 Aubusson, Anasta, MinichielloCarney (3con) 10,018Round 11BYE31, 19 May:00Round 12 Gold Coast TitansSkilled Park, Gold Coast 30 - 16 Kenny Dowall (2), Nuuausala (2), Anasta, MinichielloCarney (3con) 13,2355, 19 Jun:30Round 13 Cronulla-Sutherland SharksSydney Football Stadium, Sydney 18-42 Graham, Kenny Dowall, CarneyCarney (3con) 7,93414, 19 Jun:00Round 14 Melbourne StormAAMI Park, Melbourne 38-6 Masoe, Graham (2), Linnett, Minichiello, Nuuausala, PerrettCarney (5con) 10,449Round 15BYE27, 16 Jun:00Round 16 New Zealand WarriorsAMI Stadium Christchurch 18 - 20 Pearce, Carney, Kenny-Dowall Carney (3con) 20,7214, 14 Jul:00Round 17 Canberra RaidersCanberra Stadium, Canberra 22 - 12 Carney, Perrett, Kenny-Dowall, Friend Carney (3con) 10,7679, 19 Jul:35Round 18 South Sydney RabbitohsSydney Football Stadium, Sydney 18 - 14 Aubusson, Carney, Perrett Carney (3con) 18,42418, 15 Jul:00Round 19 Canterbury-Bankstown BulldogsSydney Football Stadium, Sydney 36 - 32 Leilua (2), Carney (2), Minichiello, Aubusson Carney(6con) 19,12926, 19 Jul:00Round 20 Brisbane BroncosSuncorp Stadium, Brisbane 34 - 30 Kenny-Dowall (4), Carney, Leilua Carney(5con) 26,48631, 17 Jul:30Round 21 Parramatta EelsParramatta Stadium, Parramatta 48 - 12 Aubusson, Kenny-Dowall, Minichiello (2), Graham (2), Linnett, NuuausalaCarney(8con) 19,8248, 15 Aug:00Round 22 St George Illawarra DragonsSydney Cricket Ground, Sydney12 - 19 Carney, Minichiello Carney, (2con) 37,99413, 19 Aug:35Round 23 Cronulla-Sutherland SharksToyota Stadium, Woolooware 12 - 18 Anasta, Kenny-Dowall Carney (2con) 8,91123, 19 Aug:00Round 24 Gold Coast TitansSydney Football Stadium, Sydney14 - 23 Kenny-Dowall, Minichiello, Anasta Carney (1con) 9,11329, 15 Aug:00Round 25 Manly-Warringah Sea EaglesSydney Football Stadium, Sydney30 - 14 Kenny-Dowall (3), Carney, Perrett Carney (4con, 1pen) 18,9624, 19 Sep:30Round 26 North Queensland CowboysDairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville18 - 8 Kenny Dowall (2), PearceCarney (3con) 12,033

Standings

Kit and Sponsors

Steggles The Sydney Roosters reaffirmed their 'New Beginning' motto by announcing their new major sponsor, Steggles. As a part of the agreement, the clubs 'New Attitude' of Community Engagement would be embraced through a new initiative, the Charity Nest. The three-year deal could see up to $250,000 donated to charities in the 2010 season.

For every point the Sydney Roosters beat their opposition by in the 2010 season, Steggles would donate $1,000 to Charity Nest, with an extra $250 contributed by the Roosters.Roosters Launch Community Initiative With Major Sponsor Steggles rleague.com, 5 February 2010

Player Summary Sydney Roosters 2010 Appearance Interchange Tries Goals F/G Points Braith Anasta 27 - 9 2 1 41 James Aubusson 6 4 1 - - 4 Mitchell Aubusson 26 - 8 - - 32 Jason Baitieri - 1 - - - 0 Sam Brunton 1 2 - - - 0 Todd Carney 28 - 16 95 1 255 Daniel Conn 2 21 1 - - 4 Daniel Fepuleai - 1 - - - 0 Jonathan Ford 2 - - - - 0 Jake Friend 14 5 1 - - 4 Phil Graham 23 - 8 - - 32 Aidan Guerra 6 3 3 - - 12 Ben Jones 4 1 1 - - 4 Martin Kennedy - 15 - - - 0 Shaun Kenny-Dowall 28 - 21 - - 84 Nick Kouparitsas 8 15 2 - - 8 Joseph Leilua 10 7 3 - - 12 Kane Linnett 13 - 4 - - 16 Mose Masoe 7 5 1 - - 4 Anthony Minichiello 26 - 12 - - 0 Nate Myles 24 - - - - 0 Frank-Paul Nuuausala 22 6 7 - - 32 Lopini Paea 9 3 - - - 0 Mitchell Pearce 22 - 9 - - 36 Sam Perrett 27 - 9 - - 36 Jason Ryles 22 4 - - - 0 Tom Symonds 2 3 - - - 0 Brad Takairangi - 2 - - - 0 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 5 14 - - - 0 Total 372 112 114 97 2 652

References