In last place ahead of Saturday's game against Manly as one of just two clubs yet to register a point in the opening three rounds, the Roosters are down in every major attacking and defensive statistic except missed tackles, according to Champion Data. Rooster booster: Coach Trent Robinson. Credit:Getty Images It is a huge fall from grace for a team that has been minor premiers for the past three years and won the 2013 grand final under Trent Robinson but the feeling within the club and among rival coaches and officials is the Roosters will still be one of the sides vying for the premiership at the end of season. The loss of Pearce over his off-field behaviour on Australia Day and the departures of star fullback Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and former NSW five-eighth James Maloney has forced Robinson to field the most inexperienced spine in the NRL, with Jackson Hastings, Jayden Nikorima and Latrell Mitchell having 29 premiership appearances between them. Hastings has played 22 and the 20-year-old has been given the responsibility of steering the side around alongside a 19-year-old halves partner in Nikorima, who made his NRL debut in the 42-10 opening round loss to South Sydney, while 18-year-old Mitchell stepped into the fullback role after playing the first game on the wing.

Not surprisingly, their kicking game has suffered, with Hastings and Nikorima averaging 467.1 metres per game compared to 625.21 when Pearce and Maloney were the halves last season. Run, Rooster, run: Jackson Hastings. Credit:Jan Kruger The Roosters have also slumped from No.1 for kick returns, averaging 230.4 metres when Tuivasa-Sheck was fullback in 2015, to 16th this season. with Mitchell and his wingers averaging 129.6 metres The other member of the Roosters spine, hooker Jake Friend, has played 166 NRL matches and he is averaging 53.3 tackles per match - the most in the premiership - but his dummy-half run metres are down from 29.7 per match last season to just 10.3 this year amid speculation he is battling an Achilles injury. Accelerated debut: Roosters rookie Jayden Nikorima. Credit:Jan Kruger

The belief within the Roosters is they are undergoing short-term pain that will reap benefits when Pearce, Waerea-Hargreaves and Cordner eventually return, and Hastings and Nikorima have gained unexpected experience. "To lose 40-0 is not good at any time but I am very happy with the growth of some of those guys and the experience of playing Johnathan Thurston for the first time is really important," Robinson said of last week's loss to the Cowboys. "It's three games into a 26-round season, we are a team who has been on some runs before and that time will come if we work hard enough." Under the leadership of a coach renowned as a good man-manager and a chairman with 40 years experience in Nick Politis, the Roosters have developed a no-blame culture and are determined to climb back up the ladder with the players they have at their disposal. The decision to release strike centre Michael Jennings during the off-season was made with a view to freeing up space in the salary cap for 2017 to sign Sonny Bill Williams or Jarryd Hayne if they decide to return to the NRL. They may also bid for the likes of Parramatta's Corey Norman or North Queensland's Lachlan Coote, who are off contract.

The Roosters offered $600,000 for Tuivasa-Sheck and $500,000 for Maloney but could not match the money from rival clubs and expected the same situation to arise when Jennings was due to come off contract at the end of this season so decided to let him go to the Eels. Had Tuivasa-Sheck or Maloney accepted the Roosters offers, they would not have been able to retain Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Daniel Tupou. "There has been lots of little things that have added up, that we have identified, and all our own doing," Robinson said when asked what had gone wrong this season. "It's up to us to rectify that, you can't have excuses when you are in control of all those things. "There's no covering over that stuff. We have made that into our own boat and it is a challenging time but also an exciting a time." In the absence of Waerea-Hargreaves, young prop Dylan Napa has assumed the role of forward leader and his statistics have comparable favourably to the Kiwi enforcer for runs and metres but overall the Roosters are averaging 251.6 less metres per game than last season and allowing opponents to run 246.6 more metres.

Worryingly, the team with the best defence in the NRL last year after conceding just 300 points in their 24 premiership games has already conceded 103 points in three matches this season. "It is not up to our standard and everyone here is well aware of that and is working hard to turn that around," back-rower Mitch Aubusson said. "It is up to us senior guys to lead the young guys and there is definitely room for improvement in that area. We won't be making any excuses from our end, there are guys out there who have trained all off-season and are ready to go so there are no excuses." The Roosters' regression Scoring 14.4 less points (10.0 in 2016, 24.4 in 2015)

Conceding 20.9 more points (13.4 in 2016, 34.3 in 2015) Running 251.6 less in run metres (1454.2m in 2016, 1705.8m in 2015) Allowing 246.6 more run metres (that's a 500 run metre turnover) (1708.2m in 2016, 1461.6m in 2015) Making 2.2 fewer line breaks (2.0 in 2016, 4.2 in 2015) Conceding 3.8 more line breaks (6.3 in 2015, 2.6 in 2015)

Doing 4.4 fewer offloads (6.3 in 2015, 10.7 in 2015) Forced to make 16.1 more tackles (325.3 in 2016, 309.2 in 2016) Opposition making 27.3 less tackles (282.0 in 2016, 309.3 in 2015) Averaging 1.9 less miss tackles this season (23.7 in 2016, 25.6 in 2015). Kicking 158.0 less metres (467.1 in 2016, 625.21 in 2015)

Loading Returns from kicks 101.4 less metres (128.6m in 2016, 230.4m in 2015) Source: Champion Data