Sinning Sydney Roosters are rugby league's Public Enemy No.1 Referee Shayne Hayne penalises the Roosters. FORGET Blake Ferguson and Sandor Earl, when it comes to rugby league's great sinner the Sydney Roosters are Public Enemy No.1. In a worrying revelation on the eve of the NRL playoffs, the boys from Bondi Junction are the most heavily penalised of all 16 teams, having been pinged a whopping 55 times in the past five weeks. Worse, numbers supplied by Fox Sports Statistics reveal that, in the past five years, the current competition leaders have been the most penalised team three times and second most penalised twice. Speaking with The Daily Telegraph yesterday, Roosters playmaker James Maloney confirmed coach Trent Robinson had spoken to his side about the worrying trend. "It's something we're working on," Maloney said. James Maloney in action for the Roosters. We've been through the tapes to discuss the penalties we can live with compared to those can't and the ways to lower them. Of course, the other thing is that when you do give up a penalty, you have to be able to defend it. That way it's not an issue. But obviously the less penalties we give the less tackles we have to make. Despite conceding an average of 8.6 penalties per game, the Roosters have gone well above that in the past five weeks against Newcastle (14), Penrith (9), Canberra (11), Wests Tigers (11) and Cronulla (10). Incredibly, the Tricolours have also been among the top two most penalised teams since 2009, despite being led by three extremely different coaches in Robinson, Brian Smith and Brad Fittler while also experiencing a vast turnover of players. Roosters five-eighth James Maloney, left, celebrates after scoring the opening try of the match. "It's quite an anomaly," Fox Sports statistician Ian Collis conceded. While St George were penalised quite heavily for a period in the 50s, I'm not sure we've even seen one club go on a run like this before. Privately, some within Roosters HQ fear the current crop may be paying the price for those indiscretions of previous, less disciplined, teams. The fear is that when referees believe a club is guilty of certain indiscretions, it sticks. And good luck getting the 50/50 calls when lumped with that tag. Regardless, when it comes to the Roosters Seven Deadly Sinners, Maloney sits first with 21 penalties against his name. Halfback Mitchell Pearce and Kiwi enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves both have 17, followed by gritty hooker Jake Friend 14. After that comes Sonny Bill Williams (13), Shaun Kenny-Dowall (13) and Marty Kennedy (12). Already this year, the Roosters have conceded 189 penalties. Further back, and split by only two penalties, are Manly (167), Wests Tigers (166) and the struggling Parramatta Eels (165). There is then another gap to Canterbury, on 156 penalties, followed by Gold Coast (148) and Brisbane (141).