Injury crisis hits Roosters after triple blow

The Roosters’ finals campaign has suffered a major blow with Sam Walker and Brandon Smith both assisted off the field against the Raiders as the latter scored a major upset win.
Early in the first half, Walker contested the ball with Simi Sasagi and was caught awkwardly.
The halfback was then in agony, clutching at his knee with a suspected ACL injury.
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“Coach looking on very concerned there,” Phil Gould said on Nine.
“He’s in a lot of pain and discomfort,” Brad Fittler added as he left the field.
Sam Walker leaves the field.  Nine
Nine’s sideline reporter Emma Lawrence said after the incident that the Roosters had described it as “pretty bad”.
“That’s devastating,” Phil Gould said on Nine.
Andrew Johns said “pretty much” when asked if no Walker means no premiership.
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“I wouldn’t go that far … they’re a very experienced side, they have a lot of depth,” Phil Gould replied.
Then in the 38th minute, Smith was caught awkwardly in a tackle from Elliott Whitehead.
The hooker screamed in agony after Whitehead fell on his leg with the Raiders skipper binned for a hip drop tackle. Smith left the field with a medial injury.
“Hardly a sin bin offence,” Phil Gould said.
In the 51st minute, the Roosters’ horror afternoon continued when Victor Radley left the field with a left shoulder injury.
“Big hit from Tapine, the whole Canberra bench went up, you could hear it from the sideline, heavy contact,” Fittler said.
“As Victor was trying to get to his feet on his left hand he just buckled straight away. This isn’t good.”
Among the chaos of injuries, the Roosters and Raiders played off in one of the games of the season.
The Raiders led 10-2 at half-time after tries to Whitehead and Sasagi.
After the break, that became 14-2 when Xavier Savage scored a runaway try.
But then the chaos returned when Whitehead was binned again in the 62nd minute for trying to kick the ball out of Angus Crichton’s hands.
“I can’t believe that. That’s hilarious,” Andrew Johns said on Nine.
Daniel Tupou then scored immediately for the Roosters to make it 14-6.
From there, the Raiders produced a defensive performance for the ages.
With a one-man advantage, the Roosters constantly tried to break through the Raiders’ line but were turned away.
“That was an extraordinary period of defence,” Phil Gould said on Nine.
After a melee broke out between Joseph Tapine and Lindsay Collins, the Roosters earned a penalty and kicked the two points.
Then right on full-time, Tupou scored his second in the corner following a Luke Keary kick with the half needing to convert it from the sideline.
Keary couldn’t and the Raiders won 14-12.