Still suffering from a self-inflicted black eye, backrower Craig Fitzgibbon says the Sydney Roosters will "go down swinging" to avoid another knockout NRL loss.

Fitzgibbon returned to Sydney with the NSW Origin side sporting an impressive shiner after he accidentally punched himself in the eye in the Origin II loss when he collided with Roosters teammate and Queensland utility Chris Flannery.

But all the Blues backrower could think of was giving Newcastle a touch up at Aussie Stadium to make amends for the Roosters' last outing - a 40-12 thrashing at the hands of the Bulldogs.

Fitzgibbon said a last round bye had done nothing to temper the Roosters' anger over their disappointing 12-man effort against the Bulldogs.

"I still have a bad taste in my mouth after the Bulldogs smashed us a couple of Fridays ago," Fitzgibbon said.

"It was very disappointing to lose that way in club football.

"It was disappointing because over the last 18 months we hadn't been beaten by more than 14 points - we've gone down swinging in every match we were involved in until our last game when they put 40 points on us.

"It was disappointing because that (defence) is what we pride ourselves on - but we didn't come up with anything.

"Tomorrow night will go a long way to improving our attitude."

The Roosters' task will be made easier against Newcastle after all six Origin players - including Fitzgibbon - were cleared to play tomorrow night.

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