St George Illawarra centre Mark Gasnier concedes the Sydney Roosters could struggle for motivation in Sunday's underwhelming grand final replay, but expects the Bondi Junction NRL club to respond well from their latest drama.

Gasnier says Roosters players left gutted by the breach of trust by senior teammates Todd Carney, Nate Myles and Frank-Paul Nuuausala face a test and he believes it will galvanise them.

Carney, Myles and Nuuausala broke a team-imposed drinking ban and have all been stood down from playing duties before answering to breach notices from the club next week.

On the field, the Dragons aren't travelling great themselves - having lost three matches straight.

But the Roosters are a rabble. They're at risk of becoming the first side in history to go from wooden spoon, to grand final and back to wooden spoon - while off the park the players are reportedly seething over the actions of Carney, Myles and Nuuausala.

Gasnier says Sunday's clash at Wollongong's WIN Stadium could bring out the best or worst in the Roosters, but he'd be surprised if the foundation club doesn't respond with pride.

"Yeah it's true... I think you can either respond in (two) different ways," said Gasnier.

"It'll be interesting...they might come out and play the game of their lives, a lot of teams do when they're under a bit of adversity.

"I couldn't see them not trying too hard, that's not in a lot of their players' make-ups and they'll be very competitive particularly in the opening moments of the match."

In round 22 last season, the Dragons and Roosters played one of the showpiece games of the regular season - a 19-12 thriller won by the Dragons at the SCG.

But one year and one round on, the clash is interesting for entirely different reasons.

The Roosters are on life support while the methodical Dragons have surprisingly hit a hurdle with the finals in sight, and the top four berth that seemed certain is no longer a guarantee.

"Last year ... I think someone actually dubbed it a grand final preview which it turned out to be," recalled Gasnier.

"But different circumstances this year and it still doesn't change.

"Both teams with the desire to get the result they want - I'm sure they'd want to win and get away from that wooden spoon spot and obviously we'd like to win and take some confidence out of it and head for the next three games into the semis."

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