Todd Carney stars as Roosters rout Rabbitohs

Todd Carney took little time to establish himself in Sydney Roosters colours after a starring display in his side's crushing 36-10 win over South Sydney at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.

Carney, debuting for the Roosters and playing his first game in the NRL since July 2008 when he was sacked by Canberra following a string of off-field incidents, was in the thick of the action as the tri-colours ran in six tries to two.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall and Mitchell Pearce both finished with doubles.

The 22 year-old fullback even provided an early candidate for try of the year as he chipped ahead before acrobatically tapping the ball back as it bounced over the dead ball line for Sam Perrett to score to give the Roosters a 20-6 lead early in the second half.

Any chance the Bunnies had of getting back into the contest evaporated moments later when Nathan Merritt - on his way for what would have been a length of the field try - inexplicably dropped the ball with the line wide and no defender in sight.

Two minutes later Aidan Guerra made it 26-6 after another Carney bust down the western touchline, Pearce and Kenny-Dowall completing their doubles as many in the 23,149-strong crowd headed for the exits.

The only downer for the visitors were injuries to Tom Symonds (hyper-extended knee) and James Aubusson (quad), though neither is expected to be out for too long.

The much-vaunted South Sydney pack started with plenty of venom, but the Roosters took little time to work their way around the Rabbitohs big men with Carney and Pearce creating havoc.

Pearce ran over backrower Eddy Pettybourne for the first after 12 minutes, and was denied a second when Carney's last pass to the Roosters halfback went forward.

Kenny-Dowall made it 12-0 when he ran 90 metres after picking off a Chris Sandow pass before the Rabbitohs halved the deficit when Merritt scored the first of his two tries - the second coming in the final minute - when he pounced on a Sandow kick for a 12-6 score at the break.

- AAP