Beetson calls on Roosters to aim up

New Sydney Roosters assistant coach Arthur Beetson has laid the blame for the club's
disappointing start to the NRL season at the hands of the players and not under-fire
head coach Brad Fittler.
Beetson, a former club great and one of seven rugby league Immortals, had his first
session with the Roosters on Tuesday morning after being called in to help lift the
club's on-field fortunes.
And after a late-night heart-to-heart with Fittler on Monday evening, Beetson wasted
no time in pointing the finger at the club's long lost of under-performing
superstars.
"A lot of it falls back on the players. The bottom line is they have got to try a
bit harder and play a little bit better as a team," Beetson said of the solution to
the club's three form 11 start to the season.
"There are (enough) good players to be doing better.
"They are better players than what they're showing.
"It's about how they want to perform and how they want to perform for each other.
"As (former coach) Jack Gibson used to say is `all we want them to do is tackle a
bit harder and run a bit harder' - that would be a great recipe for starters."
Beetson admitted the Roosters had failed to move with the times in 2009, claiming
the side's game-plan under the two-referee system was flawed.
"We haven't got on board with the new rules. The trouble with the new rules is
they've cleaned the rucks up but they've made everyone run from dummy half," Beetson
said.
"We don't do a lot of that and we also lack a little bit of structure. These are
things 'Freddy' (Fittler) has tried to address - it's not as though he doesn't
know."
Beetson said his involvement with the Roosters would be sporadic at best, with the
former Australian Test captain heavily involved in the public speaking circuit with
former NSW Origin nemesis Tommy Raudonikis.
Beetson also does charity work with the FOGS organisation - a collection of former
Queensland Origin greats - and is an Aboriginal liaison officer with Centrelink.
He will remain based on the Gold Coast and said he would travel down to Sydney to
attend Roosters training sessions when time permitted.
Beetson said he wasn't sure exactly what role he would play under Fittler, but said
he was happy to help out in any way.
"It was just a matter of whether I could fit it in, I can't devote a lot of time,
believe it or not I am busy," Beetson said.
"I'd like Freddy to be successful because he's such a great bloke.
"He's a little bit different to the other coaches because he says things off the
cuff, he isn't a spin doctor."
"I like his honesty. If there's anything I can do to help then so be it."