The Newcastle Knights lamented a disapointing loss that saw the Roosters deny the side of any points in a guelling game at Allianz Stadium.
Coach Nathan Brown and joint-captain Trent Hodkinson spoke to the media following Saturday night's loss and reflected on what was missing from the Round 9 hit-out.
"It was a tough night. I thought we did compete hard for a lot of the game," Brown said.
"The last little bit we were obviously out on our feet.
Once again, a high error count disadvantaged the Knights' ability to build momentum.
"In the first half we spent a lot of time on our try line and had four or five penlaties like hand on ball, sticking your leg in and a late flop, ones where the referree doesn't have much of a choice to penalise you," he said.
While far from a pleasing result, Brown detected areas where the Knights performed on par with the opposition.
"I thought we defended our goal line quite well. I thought with the amount of possesion they had and the quality of the players they had, I thought they did defend it really well.
"When we finally scored a try it was a no try which was a fair decision.
"Half time came and for 20 minutes we actually traded sets with them for 20 minutes and they were starting to get a bit tired."
The fact the Roosters welcomed back a number of their big names in Round 9 provided an additional challenge for the team.
"They are quality players and coming back into the team, those guys help others guys in the team with not only a bit of confidence but they had a bit of polish," he acknowledged.
"I would have thought the Roosters would stroll on to win their share of games now."
It was a tough induction for debutant Brock Lamb who stepped into the shoes of injured Jarrod Mullen (hamstring) in the Round 9 match.
"I thought he played really controlled and really well considering. You look at the circumstances he played in. He kicked the ball pretty well," he said.
"Obviously there are going to be some parts he will look at and think I can do a little better there.
"As a whole he had Boyd Cordner coming at him and handled that reasonably well.
"He looked comfortable out there and he will only continue to improve as the team can improve."
Brown also praised Daniel Saifiti as 'outstanding' in a game the challenged the Knights up front.
"I thought Daniel, when you look at the players he's playing against, I thought he was as good as any forward on the field and was outstanding, which is pleasing.
"I thought Dane Gagai at fullback, his positional play tonight was very good too.
The Knights welcome additional recovery time brought by the representative week bye which is hoped to assist players who are carrying injury and fatigue.
"There were some blokes playing today who the bodies aren't in the best state at the minute," he said.
"We only had 18 blokes left and even our 18th man isn't quite fit to play, so thankfully we didn't have to introduce him.
"There are a few guys there that a week off for them is probably quite timely.
"I don't suspect we will get anyone back over the next couple of weeks but at least the bodies who are playing will get a good rest which is very pleasing.
"We will have some training early in the week then in the back end they will have some time away."
