Potential new Newcastle coach Nathan Brown says the Sydney Roosters deserve to be premiership favourites after dominating Manly last weekend at Brookvale without two of their biggest stars.

“Any questions people had over whether the Roosters can cover for the loss of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Mitchell Pearce were well and truly answered against a Manly side playing for its season,” Brown writes in Big League magazine.

“Had they limped to victory or struggled to an unconvincing result there might have been some self-doubt creeping in, but to be missing two of their most important players and still take Manly to town will be a huge confidence boost for them.

“It will also have done wonders for Jackson Hastings. Not only will the Roosters head into the finals full of confidence, they’ll head in confident that Hastings can get the job done if Mitchell Pearce isn’t able to come back from injury in time.”

The Roosters play arch rivals South Sydney on Friday night while Brown’s coaching future is still up in the air.