The Warriors were outclassed by the Roosters in Sydney on Sunday in a 24-0 defeat that severely damages their chances of finishing in the top four.

It was the first time since losing 30-0 to the Storm in 2009 that the Warriors have been held scoreless in a game and this has to go down as a low point in their 2015 campaign.

The Warriors may have defeated the Titans, Raiders and Storm in recent weeks to shoot them up the ladder, but against a side with the quality of the Roosters, they were easily beaten.

SCOTT BARBOUR/GETTY IMAGES Blake Ferguson, right, celebrates his try with Roosters team-mates during their 24-0 win over the Warriors.

AS IT HAPPENED: Roosters rout pointless Warriors

They lost the battle in the forwards and the inexperience of their young outside backs stood out. Those failings combined meant that Shaun Johnson was never able to get going and had precious little impact. Sam Tomkins was the only player who stood out for the Warriors, but this was the first time this season he's been on the losing side.

Over the remaining seven games of the season, it must be a concern that while they're able to consistently beat weaker teams, against the NRL's elite they continually crumble.

CAMERON SMITH/GETTY IMAGES Warriors captain Simon Mannering, left, gets to grips with the Roosters' Brendan Elliot at Allianz Stadium.

Against the top four teams the Warriors are 0 from 5 this season, a statistic that says plenty about their Premiership prospects.

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* Shaun Kenny-Dowall charged

* Townsend: It's been a big test

The Roosters announced a couple of hours before the game that Shaun Kenny-Dowall had been withdrawn from their team following consultation with the club's coaching and welfare staff.

The Kiwis centre, who has been in great form for the Roosters, was arrested on Saturday and charged with 10 offences, including six counts of common assault and stalking his former partner Jessica Peris.

Kenny-Dowall was replaced by Brendan Elliott, while the Warriors' prop Charlie Gubb didn't make the trip over because of a shoulder injury and the veteran Sam Rapira took his place on the interchange bench.

Over the first 19 minutes there was plenty of big hits and nice runs from both teams, but also a large number of errors and the closest either side came to scoring was when Chad Townsend made a big break up the middle, but the ball was knocked on in a tackle under the posts.

In the 22nd minute the first points finally came, with Roosters' hooker Jake Friend putting through a grubber kick that was pounced on by Aidan Guerra.

Three minutes later the Roosters were in again, with Blake Ferguson easily shoving Solomone Kata out of the way to make it to the line.

Nine minutes from time in a battle between the fullbacks, Warriors-bound Roger Tuivasa-Sheck beat the departing Tomkins to latch onto a high ball and pick up the Roosters' third try of the night.

Trailing 18-0 at the break, this game already looked lost for the Warriors, particularly because they were only able to complete seven of their 15 sets in the first half.

Any talk in the changing rooms about starting the second half well clearly didn't have any impact as James Maloney registered the Roosters' fourth try two minutes into the stanza.

Surprisingly, there were no further points in the game, with the Roosters happy to coast home and the Warriors unable to get their attack going.

AT A GLANCE

Roosters 24 (Aidan Guerra, Blake Ferguson, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, James Maloney tries; James Maloney 4 goals) Warriors 0.HT: 18-0