South Sydney Rabbitohs v Sydney Roosters
ANZ Stadium, 5:30pm
Rabbitohs $1.85, Roosters $1.95
Rabbitohs:Â Rhys Wesser, Nathan Merritt, Dylan Farrell, Greg Inglis, Chris McQueen, John Sutton, Chris Sandow, Ben Ross, Issac Luke, Shannan McPherson, Jason Clark, Eddy Pettybourne, Michael Crocker (c), Interchange (from): Luke Burgess, Dave Tyrrell, Ben Lowe, Nathan Peats, Shaune Corrigan
Roosters: Phil Graham, Sam Perrett, Kane Linnett, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Joseph ‘BJ’ Leilua, Todd Carney, Mitchell Pearce, Jason Ryles, Jake Friend, Nate Myles, Braith Anasta, Tom Symonds, Frank Paul Nuuausala. Interchange: Anthony Mitchell, Tinirau Arona, Brad Takairangi, Aidan Guerra
It wouldn’t be rivalry round without a matchup between the Rabbitohs and the Roosters; two teams that have been contesting first grade Rugby League matches since 1908.
South Sydney will be looking to bounce back from their loss against the Sea Eagles last week otherwise they may start to lose touch with the top 8. As every team is, the Rabbitohs are more than aware how badly the Roosters have been struggling this year, but will also know that they may have found some confidence in their win against the Panthers last week. The first 30 minutes of this game are going to be crucial to success and Souths would do well to go out all guns blazing in the first 20 and hope that some swift interchanges can really help to put the Roosters to the sword before they get any chance to build on their newly found confidence.
Whilst it was good in a sympathetic kind of way to see the boys from Bondi get up over the Panthers last week, I have to say that it was made a bit easy for them by a Panthers side that didn’t really ‘turn up’. The Roosters had racked up 8 line breaks in the first half and some players were running through the advantage line without a single finger laid on them thanks to some horribly lackadaisical defence.
If the Bunnies can win again this week, then I’ll be fully convinced. I wish both teams the best of luck!
Mike’s Best Bet: None
Starting Bank: $2000, Current Bank $2541.42
(Team lists sourced from nrl.com.au)
