On the 26th of May 2018 the Sydney Roosters were sitting in seventh place on the NRL ladder after 11 rounds and were seen as a club that had spent big on star players who failed to step up.

There were question marks around the chemistry between halves Luke Keary and Cooper Cronk with the pressure mounting on the club.

By the end of that day the Roosters had thrashed the Gold Coast Titans 34-14 with the 26th of May officially the day where the chooks turned everything around and began their run to premiership glory in 2018, where they would finish in second place on the ladder and defeat the Melbourne Storm in the Grand Final.

Now let’s fast forward to the first of July 2022.

After 15 rounds the Roosters sit in ninth place on the NRL ladder and are set to face defending premiers the Penrith Panthers that evening in a game they are expected to lose easily.

However, they would take the Panthers to their limit and come as close as anyone has to beating Ivan Cleary’s side without getting the job done.

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— Sydney Roosters 🐓 (@sydneyroosters) August 16, 2022

Since then the Roosters have not lost a game, winning five in a row and now find themselves in the top eight with the competition’s sixth best for and against.

Trent Robinson’s team is easily the form side of the NRL and must now be considered the biggest threat to ladder leaders Penrith.

Other contenders such as the Cowboys and Broncos have both seen a drop in form over the past month while the Sharks have been good but consistently still have periods of poor form throughout every game.

Sydney are realistically all but out of contention for the top four which means that if they do win the Grand Final they would likely be making history as the first-ever team to win a premiership from outside the top four in the NRL era.

At the beginning of 2022 the Panthers, Roosters and Melbourne Storm were the three favourites to win the competition and it seems that after plenty of twists, turns and potential Cinderella stories we are back where we started.