In a contest where both teams held the lead the game was in the balance until Drew Hopwood scored for the Roosters to secure the 20-14 win.

The quality of the game was surprising to DPC coach Ryan McGoldrick.

“It was a pretty high standard of footy,” he said.

“The scoreline suggests the teams were evenly matched and I think that is pretty fair.

“Usually the first games of the year are a bit low in terms of quality, but I think both teams did really well considering.”

The Roosters were the first to break the deadlock with David Charles scoring two tries within six minutes.

The Black and Whites hit back through Sosiaia Finefuiaki and Steven Broome converting the try which saw them take a two-point lead into the break.

Charles kept his try scoring habits up completing his hat-trick to retake the lead from the visitors and give his side a 14-10 lead.

The game moved into a holding pattern with both sides unable to hit the scoreboard for much of the second half.

The Griffith side did manage to cross next which brought the game level thanks to a try from Joshua Charles with not much time remaining.

With the match looking destined to be level as the full-time siren approached one of the Roosters better players stepped into the spotlight to cross for a match-winning try.

With little time remaining the try from Drew Hopwood and conversion from Joshua Veivers proved to be the decisive blow for the Black and Whites side.

McGoldrick spoke very highly of the performance from Hopwood.

“Over the break, we have lost a few players, but we have had some good local blokes come back on board,” he said.

“Drew was one of those and to come back after three years and put in a performance like that is great for us.”

The coach was pleased with the effort shown by those who stepped up from lower grades.

“There is heaps to improve on from the game but the blokes who came from last year 18s and reserve side were great,” he said.

“The effort and determination is exactly what we wanted.”