NRLW premiers Roosters make winning start

The Roosters never let go of the lead, scoring four tries in the first half and another three in the second.

They were ably led by new skipper Kelly whose points early in the first half set up the Roosters win.

Winger Jayme Fressard, a new recruit from Newcastle, also scored a double.

The free-spirited scoring had commentators diving for the record books to find out if the Roosters haul was the highest in NRLW history.

But in the end they fell two short of the Dragons 40-4 drubbing of the Knights in 2021.

Six of the eight Roosters tries came from the back-five, which pleased Kelly greatly as it signified the forwards doing the set-up work.

"That just comes from our middles doing the work that they did - they are just running so hard. Once they do their job we're able to shift wide and have a crack," Kelly said.

Coach John Strange was pleased with the two newest members of his spine - fullback Sam Bremner and hooker Destiny Brill.

"A little bit of fine-tuning with those two connecting a bit more, which we'll work on, but I thought they were very good today," he said.

After two sparkling runs by Bremner and prop Sarah Togatuk, it was a third Roosters NSW Origin player in Kelly who put winger Jayme Fressard over on the left corner for first points,with the match only seven minutes old.

Three minutes later and Kelly did it all herself in a 30-metre run, fending off Eels centre Abbi Church and dragging fullback Gayle Broughton over the line.

After scoring on the left it was Kelly again - but this time on the right - combining with Bremner to get her double for the afternoon, in the space of three minutes.

Momentum swung the Eels way with hooker Seli Mailangi barging over from dummy-half, before Simaima Taufa again pushed through flimsy defence after picking up a loose ball close to the lines.

Scores were locked up 12-12 as half-time approached.

But Bremner once again injected herself with a darting run before off-loading to Jess Sergis.

The 2019 Dally M winner hit the defensive line at speed, spun around and over for the Roosters fourth try.

It gave the visitors the lead 18-12 as the hooter sounded.

It was a see-sawing start to the second half, when former Roosters player Vanessa Foliaki celebrated her 29th birthday with a try for the Eels, before Olivia Kernick's angled run kept the Roosters in front 24-16.

But Roosters tries to back-rower Shaniah Power, a second to Fressard, and then right-side winger Leianne Tufuga put the result beyond doubt.

For the Eels, coach Dean Widders wasn't happy with his team missing 51 tackles and only grabbing one line-break to 10 by the Roosters.

"We definitely lost a lot of the one-on-one tackles out there. We were timid in some of our defence - we just didn't defend strongly enough and our kicking game was poor," Widders said.

Australian Associated Press