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2018 NRL – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs vs Sydney Roosters Preview

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AT A GLANCE

When? Thursday 19th April, 10:50 (UK)

Where? ANZ Stadium

What channel is it on? UK - Sky Sports Action Australia - Nine Network, Foxtel, LIVE PASS

Where can I stream the match? UK - Sky Sports subscribers can stream the match online via Sky Go Australia - https://www.telstra.com.au/tv-...

Are tickets still available? http://premier.ticketek.com.au...

THE STATISTICS

THE LOWDOWN

BULLDOGS

Head Coach: Dean Pay

Starting 13: Mbye, B. Morris, J. Morris, Hopoate, Montoya, Marshall-King, Foran, Woods, Lichaa, Klemmer, Jackson, Faitala-Mariner, Elliott – Interchanges: Fine, Fualalo, Eastwood, Holland – Reserves: Olive, Martin, Toomaga, Frawley

Unavailable: Tom Carr, Aiden Tolman

  • Canterbury produced their best performance of the season by quite some distance as they shocked North Queensland in Townsville. The Bulldogs defended brilliantly as they racked up a comfortable 10-27 win against the Cowboys.
  • Head coach Dean Pay has unsurprisingly named the same 17 as last week’s win as his side look for back-to-back wins.
  • David Klemmer made 162 metres last week, the most by any Bulldog. He also leads the NRL through Round 6 for metres after contact with 397 - 32 more than Jason Taumalolo.

ROOSTERS

Head Coach: Trent Robinson

Starting 13: Tedesco, Manu, Mitchell, Aubusson, Ferguson, Keary, Cronk, Tetevano, Friend, Napa, Cordner, Matterson, Liu – Interchanges: Waerea-Hargreaves, Nuuausala, Butcher, Radley – Reserves: Tupouniua, Taukeiaho, Baptiste, Robinson

Unavailable: Daniel Tupou

  • Sydney Roosters were poor in defeat as they were defeated by bitter rivals South Sydney Rabbitohs last week. The defence was the main issue for the Roosters, missing 38 tackles along with 24 ineffective tackles to allow Souths to make easy metres as they went down 14-26.
  • Trent Robinson has shuffled his backline with Mitch Aubusson switching to the centres, Joseph Manu moving to the wing and Reece Robinson dropping out of the side. Sio Taukeiaho pulled out in the warm-up last week and is only an outside chance of playing after being named in the reserves.
  • Through Round 6, the Roosters have shown some real inconsistencies so far. Perhaps their biggest has come in defence where they lead the NRL with 134 ineffective tackles. That’s a huge difference of 23 more than the team with the second-highest - Newcastle Knights.

THE PREDICTION

This Thursday night game is an important one for both sides after hugely contrasting performances last week. The Bulldogs were hugely impressive to keep the Cowboys at bay whilst the Roosters were poor, especially in defence, as they were beaten by the Rabbitohs. Canterbury will be looking to maintain the level of performance they produced last week as they look for back-to-back wins for the first time this season. However, that will be tough against the Roosters who will be looking for a response as they seek some consistency of their own. They wouldn’t have expected to have started the season 3-3 and 3-4 would lead to some big questions being asked. They can bounce back here but will need to tighten up their defence to prevent another shock defeat.

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