IT'S HARD to stand out in a losing side, but it can be tough also to gain respect as a young forward when your pack is loaded with names such as Mason, O'Meley, Tupou, and Myles - not just first-graders but fully established representative players.

But who bends the line furthest when they charge at the defence - Mark O'Meley or Willie Mason?

Neither, to be true. Among forwards to have played 10 games or more this year the honours go to Lopini Paea and Anthony Cherrington. Paea, a Tongan international all the way from Minto, averages 9.5 metres a hit-up, just shading Cherrington, with 9.3m. Paea, whose younger brother Mickey will play off the bench tonight against Melbourne, is the only Rooster to play every game this season. With perhaps the lowest centre of gravity in the game, Lopini has proved very hard to knock over.

"He's got amazing leg speed," noted Roosters recruitment manager Peter O'Sullivan, who predicts an even brighter future for 24-year-old. "He's only going to get better once his endurance base improves and he can get some more game time. He'll be a high quality rep player for many years to come."

But Paea, with 57 games to his name, is a veteran beside Cherrington, a 20-year-old in his debut season who has been carrying the ball forward with venom in recent weeks. Of course, bending the Storm line - and winning a quick play-the-ball - is a challenge all of its own and one he'll relish, suggested O'Sullivan.

"He actually wasn't playing that well in the under 20s but since we brought him up to first grade and put a challenge in front of him he's really come of age and been wonderful for us," he said. "I think a lot of the better players don't play that well in the 20s, to be honest. Some of them play better against men than they do against the younger players. It's just the challenge factor."

Cherrington is also the first listed local junior to make the cut since Bryan Fletcher and Luke Ricketson, with the Junior Kiwi born in Sydney and a graduate of the Paddington Tigers. His figures, according to NRL Stats/Sportsdata have got even better in recent weeks. In his past five matches, despite the Roosters' up-and-down form, he is averaging 10.7m every carry and Paea 10.6m. Of the big names Mason is averaging 8.8m a carry this season, Nate Myles 8.6m, O'Meley 8.2m and Anthony Tupou 8.5m.

"There's no doubt we've got depth," O'Sullivan said. "We've got established players but from the side we've got three or four at least who are going to turn themselves into high quality rep players."

Beating the Storm in Melbourne would go some way toward justifying that praise.

"They're an amazing footy team but I'm sure our forwards won't be too fearful of them. We matched it with them in Sydney at the start of the year and I'm sure we'll match it with them again," O'Sullivan said.

The Roosters are the only side in the competition to have claimed the Storm's scalp twice in succession. What chance of three? "I was at Melbourne last year when they beat us and they beat us fair and square and the first-round match this year was a high quality game of footy, very tough, very end-to-end. We sort of out-Melbourned Melbourne.

"If our forwards can get on top I'm sure we've got enough points in us to worry the life out of them."

One Rooster certain to remember the night is Ben Jones, the 18-year-old debutant on the bench. "I'm sure he's not going to be fazed. He's a confident kid and he's marked Israel [Folau] before and more than held his own," said O'Sullivan, who found Greg Inglis for the Storm and coached a young Mark Gasnier. "He's a talent. At a young age he was probably the best schoolboy player I've seen since Gasnier."