Roosters' Ryles goes 'ga-ga' in heat

Roosters captain Braith Anasta (C) says the heat made his side's game against the Tigers "tough".

IT was 35 degrees at kick-off, and Sydney Roosters coach Brian Smith said the heat had sent prop Jason Ryles "ga-ga".

Smith said Ryles had suffered a bout of sun-stroke during Sunday afternoon's 44-32 win over the Wests Tigers at the Sydney Football Stadium.

"I thought Rylesy had a touch of sun-stroke there at one stage, he was really crook," Smith said.

"He was just ga-ga, he was legless.

"He stood up and he did the wobbles.

"He was right again within five or 10 minutes once he got some water into him and cooled down but that was very hot."

Ryles put his 18th-minute problem down to a back injury, saying his stint in the south of France playing league in summer had prepared him for Sydney's early autumn heatwave.

"Smithy's probably just taking the piss out of me because I'm playing ordinary," he said.

"It was exactly like that (in France), it was awful so I was going over there thinking I'd be playing in the cold then all of a sudden summer hit and it was 30 degrees when you're playing, it was yuck."

Roosters captain Braith Anasta said the conditions had made it tough.

"I'm still finding my legs so I was struggling a bit out there," he said.

"It was pretty hot, tough conditions."

Tigers coach Tim Sheens said the conditions had influenced the decision to rule out sick second-rower Liam Fulton.

Sheens said Fulton had been ill all week but had got as far as Sunday's warm-up before being replaced by Englishman Mark Flanagan in the run-on side.

"He took ill so we just couldn't risk playing him in the conditions," Sheens said.

"The doc ruled him out during the warm-up, he got crook during the warm-up."

"It was a pretty hot game, conditions were pretty average and there were a few mistakes and it's hard to defend against the penalty count."

The Tigers could be without halfback Robert Lui (ankle) and forward Gareth Ellis (leg cork) for next week's clash with Parramatta but are hoping to have Bryce Gibbs, Todd Payten and Fulton back, while suspended winger Beau Ryan will also return.