Roosters v Bulldogs preview

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The Bulldogs eye a Top 4 berth as the Roosters struggle to gain control of a season slowly slipping away. All makes for an intriguing Thursday night clash.

For the Roosters, 2016 has been disastrous both on and off the field. There's no real need to delve into what is in the past, but these issues have been severely compounded by cruelling injuries. Luckily for the home side, the return of maligned halfback Mitchell Pearce sees the Tricolours enter this important battle with a relatively injury free line up. Particularly important with Pearce's return is sparking the Roosters' abysmal attack, which ranks a lowly 14th in the 2016 season. However, this will be no easy task against a Bulldogs team which, unluckily for the Roosters, have hit a rich vein of form headlined by last week's 40-14 thumping of the Broncos. And when you consider that the home side's 3 wins this year have come against teams 12th or below, their assignment this week is made much tougher. However, their attitude across the ditch two weeks ago was promising. Despite having only 45% possession, completing at 65% and finishing on the wrong side of a lopsided 10-3 penalty count, the Roosters outscored the Warriors in tries, only to fall 12-10 due to goal kicking. Having lost their previous outing to the Storm 46-0, their improvement in attitude, particularly towards defence was pleasing. 

For the first time this season the Bulldogs will be chasing 3 straight when they tackle the Roosters on Thursday night. Critical in the Bulldogs' big 26 point win over the Broncos was their rampaging forward pack, who not only laid the platform with 1893 running metres but also crossed for unlikely four pointers, with 4 of Canterbury's 7 tries scored by their big boppers. Furthermore, their men up front broke 26 tackles in total, with Brisbane falling apart in defence, missing a whopping 42 tackles. The Dog's previous clash with the Roosters was a tight one statistically, with David Klemmer's 242 running metres and James Graham's 189 proving valuable in their 12 point victory. Key to this one will be the battle of the forward packs, with the addition of Brett Morris adding further strike power out wide for the Bulldogs to take advantage of. Josh Morris is still a notable omission for the Dogs, but Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Greg Eastwood both return from injury this week as the Dogs look to temporarily overtake the Broncos and jump into 5th position (with a Top 4 position in the balance due to Parramatta's well publicised salary cap woes.)

Last meeting: Round 11 2016 - Bulldogs 32 Roosters 20

Who to watch: For the Roosters all eyes will be on returning Mitchell Pearce. Pearce made a great comeback in the Roosters' massive 38-0 victory over the Knights in Round 9, yet since then has struggled for form, largely due to injury concerns which have disrupted his 2016 campaign. Dylan Napa will also be pivotal for the Roosters if they are able to outmuscle the Dogs. If Napa can replicate his infamous performance against Souths the Roosters are big chance.

For the Dogs, underrated prop Aiden Tolman was instrumental against the Broncos, running for an enormous 230 metres and making 41 tackles, missing 0. His work may go unnoticed at times, but Tolman is just as important as Moses Mbye who will be pivotal in attack if his side comes out on top, with 3 try assists to his name last weekend. 

The favourite: Dogs have the form and are thus heavily backed.

My tip: I was sensing an upset prior to the Dogs' demolition of the Broncos. But after such a dominant performance, it's hard not to see the Dogs' forwards being just a bit too much for what should be a spirited Roosters outfit. Bulldogs by 10.

1. Latrell Mitchell 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Blake Ferguson 4. Dale Copley 5. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 6. Jackson Hastings 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9. Jake Friend 10. Dylan Napa 11. Aidan Guerra 12. Mitchell Aubusson 13. Sio Siua Taukeiaho
Interchange: 14. Sam Moa 15. Isaac Liu 16. Kane Evans 17. Connor Watson

1. William Hopoate 2. Brett Morris 3. Curtis Rona 23. Josh Morris 5. Sam Perrett 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Moses Mbye 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Michael Lichaa 10. James Graham 11. Josh Jackson 20. Asipeli Fine 13. David Klemmer
Interchange: 14. Sam Kasiano 15. Tony Williams 16. Danny Fualalo 19. Raymond Faitala-Mariner

Referees: Grant Atkins, Alan Shortall; Sideline Officials: Jason Walsh, Chris Sutton; Video Referees: Ashley Klein, Luke Patten, Steve Chiddy