Sydney Roosters hooker Connor Watson is confident Jared Waerea-Hargreaves' return from suspension will lay the foundation for an immediate turnaround from Friday night's loss to the Panthers.
The Roosters were blown off the park in the opening 20 minutes of the qualifying final, trailing 22-0 after 23 minutes before steadying the ship and ultimately losing 30-10.
Coach Trent Robinson conceded post-game his side was physically outmuscled throughout the early exchanges and Waerea-Hargreaves' return is set to play a major role in ensuring the Roosters are dominant up front in next week's sudden-death semi-final.
"He’s our fearless leader," Watson said. "He's so good for us. It will be a massive in for us to have Jared back."
Waerea-Hargreaves at his aggressive best
Waerea-Hargreaves has spent the past three weeks on the sidelines after he was banned for a high tackle in his side's victory over the Gold Coast Titans. The match was his first after serving a four-game ban.
The prop is playing his final season of a decorated NRL career and the Roosters are determined to send the club's most-capped player out on a winning note.
To do that, they will have to immediately regroup and turn things around following Friday night's disappointment.
While they were blown off the park early, the Roosters are taking solace from a much-improved second half in which they outscored their opponents 10-6.
Panthers v Roosters – Finals Week 1, 2024
It's a 40-minute stint they hope to use as a springboard for next week's sudden-death semi-final at Allianz Stadium against the winner of Sunday's showdown between the Bulldogs and Manly at Accor Stadium.
With no more margin for error, Robinson said there is no time to dwell on the past and backed his side to quickly put Friday's loss in the rearview mirror.
"That's footy, it's what you do," Robinson said. "You lick your wounds, you pick up your lessons then get going into next week with positivity and move on.
"We live week to week, we've got to do it and that's what we do."
While the Roosters had hoped to prevail on Friday to secure a week off and a home preliminary final, it's not foreign territory for many within the squad.
Watson was one of five players involved in the NSW Blues recovery from 0-1 down to stun Queensland in Game 2 of this year's State of Origin series before they upset the Maroons in a Suncorp Stadium decider.
Match: Panthers v Roosters
Finals Week 1 -
home Team
Panthers
2nd Position
away Team
Roosters
3rd Position
Venue: BlueBet Stadium, Penrith
The Blues never lost belief despite losing Game 1 at home and the Roosters players who were involved will draw on that experience throughout the next week.
"There's still a lot of belief in the group," Watson said. "The first half was really disappointing. It was not good enough from us but I feel like that last 50 minutes we played a lot better footy and went back to the style of football we wanted to play and spoke about playing all week.
"We've just got to take our lessons from that and believe we can do it. We've only got to go and win three more games and it starts with the Bulldogs or Manly next week."
