Shackleton demands Rooster pride - Sports News - Fanatics - the world's biggest events

Shackleton demands Rooster pride

12/06/2009 05:28:55 PM Comments (0)

Departing forward Shane Shackleton says the Sydney Roosters need to show pride in themselves and their jersey by climbing off the bottom of the NRL table.

Just two days after signing a three-year deal to join Parramatta from 2010, Shackleton says he wants to finish his Bondi career on a high.

And that starts with the Roosters snaring a win against the Gold Coast at Bluetongue Stadium in Gosford on Saturday night.

"No-one wants to be sitting bottom of the ladder. It has got to do with pride now," said Shackleton.

"We have to pick it back up and show that we do have pride, not only in ourselves but the jumper.

"We have to get together, group up and work together and try to put the runs on the board now."

The Roosters have lost former Test forward Willie Mason to knee soreness for the game, with young forward Anthony Cherrington added to the bench.

The Titans have their own injury woes with Test prop Luke Bailey (broken arm) and Mat Rogers (ribs) both out.

Matthew White comes in for Bailey while Preston Campbell will play five-eighth and William Zillman starts at fullback.

Gold Coast are particularly wary of this clash, not only are they coming off a short Monday turnaround but they have a sense of deja vu because their 2008 season fell apart when they lost to bottom placed South Sydney at the same midpoint of last season to spark their finals fade out.

The Roosters dropped to last place after a heavy 38-18 loss to Manly last week to take their recent record to one win from their past eight games.

But the scoreline didn't reflect the improvement in their play and Shackleton is confident the side has turned its fortunes around.

"We showed that we've got a lot more confidence and it showed in the tries we scored," he said.

"The passes were starting to fall into our hands which hasn't really happened in the past weeks or sort of season pretty much.

"We will just try to build off that and hopefully come up with the win this time. We have to make sure we keep grinding to the 80th minute.

"(Gold Coast) are obviously a team in form ... they're a team you can't knock off against.

"If we're going to do it (bounce back) we may as well do it against the best."

Meanwhile Shackleton says leaving the Roosters, after finally cementing a starting first grade spot, was the most difficult decision of his career.

After modelling his training and preparation on club legend Craig Fitzgibbon, he is excited about going to the Eels to learn off another great backrower Nathan Hindmarsh.

"The last few years there's been a bit of a battle and bit of a rivalry (with Hindmarsh) but it will be good to strap on the boots alongside of him," he said.

"He is one the guys if you're playing against him you love to hate but I'm sure playing alongside him will be the best."

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