Sydney Roosters five-eighth Todd Carney has led his side to a last-gasp 18-14 win over South Sydney in a bruising NRL derby at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Man of the match Carney scored the Roosters' only first-half try, laid on the winner for Mitch Aubusson and booted three-from-three as the Roosters snatched victory in the 77th minute.

Brian Smith's men will leapfrog Souths on the NRL ladder after the three-tries-to-two victory in front of 18,424 fans, posting back-to-back victories for the first time since rounds one and two.

In a sour aftermath, though, Carney was almost hit by a projectile thrown by a crowd member as he was lining up his final conversion attempt.

Fans could have been forgiven for thinking State of Origin IV was underway, such was the brutality of the hits, Roosters winger Joseph Leilua the main casualty with a painful shoulder injury.

Souths were quick to prove there will be life after Issac Luke's shoulder injury when replacement Beau Falloon, described as an "old fashioned" No.9 by coach John Lang, scored an old fashioned try, scooting from dummy half after just three minutes.

The Roosters looked to have hit back in the 15th but could only come up with a contender for no-try of the year after winger Sam Perrett had volleyed a Carney kick and some hot potato passing resulted in second-rower Aubusson diving over.

It was all to no avail with a forward pass ruled before Souths halfback Chris Sandow extended his side's advantage to 8-0 with a 20th minute penalty goal.

The Roosters got on the board five minutes later when Carney skipped through some poor defence to score from close range and the conversion made it 8-6.

The home side continued to make inroads around the ruck after the break and capitalised when a slick backline movement resulted in Perrett crossing in the 58th minute, Carney's conversion making it 12-8.

But, piggy-backed by a penalty, Souths were soon back in front when a neat inside ball from big man Dave Taylor helped Fetuli Talanoa to the line in the 64th minute and Sandow's sideline conversion gave his side a 16-14 lead.

A late penalty also helped the Roosters, Carney laying on a perfect pass for a straight running Aubusson to grab the winner.

An SCG Trust spokesperson said the bottle-throwing incident would be reviewed, but Carney was not concerned.

"I saw a few bounce near me," he said.

"I seriously don't think it was (aimed) at me, it was more the refs I think.

"They didn't get close ... none were close enough to hit me or endanger me.

"I'm sure they weren't Roosters fans so I'm happy."

Pleased to be back at five-eighth, he said his side had never lost faith it could pull off a victory.

"(Captain) Braith (Anasta) said he felt that we were going to win and I just had the same feeling," Carney said.

"We knew if we stuck to the game-plan it was going to happen."

Coach Brian Smith said his side needed to overcome the toll tough trips to Christchurch and Canberra had taken in the last fortnight.

"I was thinking that there's no way our boys could have enough petrol to play an 80 minute game and win it because they're physically better than their opponents, especially when they were coming of a bye, so it was mental," he said.

Lang was left ruing what he said was inconsistent refereeing in the ruck area, but was pleased with how his side had turned up.

"We would have beaten a lot of sides tonight," he said.

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