Roosters v Knights preview

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Cellar dwellers aim to put dreadful starts behind them

When the Sydney Roosters bowed out of the NRL Finals Series last year against Brisbane in the Preliminary Finals it was seen as the lowest ebb in Trent Robinson's short coaching career, fast forward 7 months and the pain that the Roosters felt on that night is nothing compared to the treacherous off season and regular season that the tri colours have endured thus far in 2016. With just one win next to their name they are anchored to the bottom of the competition. The inexperience that has been seen throughout the squad thus far hasn't been easy for them to deal with and they will be welcoming the returns of big name starts Mitchell Pearce and Jared Waerea Hargreaves with open arms. The question to be posed though, can the Roosters turn it all around? Their fans will be hoping for two points against fellow strugglers the Newcastle Knights.

The Knights are well and truly in rebuilding mode, which is quite a common saying in sports these days and seems to take the notion that you can afford to be poor as long as you are rebuilding. That will not be the mantra that coach Nathan Brown is taking as he continues his quest to get the Knights performing for 80 minutes (something that they have only done once and which led to a win against the Wests Tigers). The Knights are in a similar predicament to the Roosters where they have a very young squad void of a lot of experienced players. The loss of Jarrod Mullen hurts them deeply and the likes of the Sims brothers, Jeremy Smith and Trent Hodkinson will need to stand up and be counted in his absence if the Novacastrions want to walk out of Sydney with the two competition points.

Last meeting: Round 22 2015 - Knights 22 Roosters 38

The Roosters won last years meeting quite comfortably and have also won 6 of the last 7 games between these two clubs. You have to go back all the way to 2009 to see the last time that the Knights have won against the Roosters in Sydney. Furthermore the Knights have won just once 1 in the last 10 at Allianz Stadium. They'll be smarting that this match wasn't played as scheduled in Gosford, where they have a great record over the Roosters.

Who to watch: The Roosters have been looking forward to the return of their half back Mitchell Pearce since his suspension was handed down earlier this year. His kicking game and combination with his forwards will be invaluable. Particularly look for his long kicking game to put the Knights under pressure as well as his bombs on last tackle to test out Knights Fullback Dane Gagai. As a former captain, expect to see his fellow team mates to lift for him.

Newcastle have struggled with ball retention all season as evident with them only completing 65% of their sets last week against Manly. One of the many culpriuts of this has been Tariq Sims who last week made 2 errors, conceded a penalty and only ran for 40 metres in an 80 minute effort. The Knights need a lot more from him as he can be an explosive ball runner who can bust open defensive lines and carry defenders with him. His offloading ability is one of his real strong suits but he has yet to register an offload or gain more than 100 metres this season. Sims needs to have a cracking game and lead the Knights from the front to rival the big forward pack of the Roosters.

The favourite: With the return of Pearce and JWH, the Roosters are huge favourites in this game.

My tip: Hard to go past the Roosters at home and with the return of Pearce. They'll have something to prove after last week's controversial loss to the Dragons. The Knights need to complete their sets and play field position if they want to stay in this clash, unfortunately I cant see their forward pack matching it with the Roosters over the 80 minutes. Roosters by 18.

1. Latrell Mitchell 2. Joe Burgess 3. Mitchell Aubusson 4. Blake Ferguson 5. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 6. Jackson Hastings 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. Sam Moa 9. Jake Friend 10. Dylan Napa 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Aidan Guerra 13. Isaac Liu
Interchange: 14. Kane Evans 15. Eloni Vunakece 16. Ryan Matterson 17. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves

1. Dane Gagai 2. Nathan Ross 3. Sione Mata'utia 4. Pat Mata'utia 5. Akuila Uate 18. Brock Lamb 7. Trent Hodkinson 20. Mickey Paea 9. Danny Levi 19. Jack Stockwell 11. Tariq Sims 12. Korbin Sims 15. David Bhana
Interchange: 6. Will Pearsall 10. Daniel Saifiti 13. Jeremy Smith 17. Pauli Pauli

Referees: Matt Cecchin, Dave Munro; Sideline Officials: Clayton Sharpe, Dave Ryan; Video Referees: Bryan Norrie, Jason Robinson, Ashley Klein;