Semi Final #1 Sydney Roosters (1st) vs Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (5th) Allianz Stadium, Friday 18 September 2015 Kick Off: 7:55pm 1. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 2. Daniel Tupou 3. Michael Jennings 4. Blake Ferguson 5. Shaun Kenny-Dowall 6. James Maloney 7. Mitchell Pearce 8. Sam Moa 9. Jake Friend 10. Dylan Napa 11. Boyd Cordner 12. Aidan Guerra 13. Siosiua Taukeiaho Interchange: 14. Jackson Hastings 15. Isaac Liu 16. Kane Evans 17. Mitchell Aubusson 18. Suaia Matagi 1. Brett Morris 2. Curtis Rona 3. Josh Morris 4. Timoteo Lafai 5. Sam Perrett 6. Josh Reynolds 7. Moses Mbye 8. Aiden Tolman 9. Damien Cook 10. James Graham 11. Josh Jackson 12. Frank Pritchard 13. Greg Eastwood Interchange: 14. Sam Kasiano 15. Shaun Lane 16. David Klemmer 17. Tim Browne 19. Lloyd Perrett
Pearce is a massive risk. You need Hastings on the bench to cover him, but against this Dogs side you want 4 forwards on the bench.
4 forward is unnecessary. I already think Liu & Aubusson get less minutes than their ability deserves.
The weather will play a huge part in this. I'll feel much more confident if it holds out, if it doesn't and we get into a dogfight (pun intended), that's where we will capitulate.
Reckon Roosters by 8. Though I have no idea what to expect from the Dogs tbh. Hope they both put on a good show anyway.
I think we'll really miss Pearce, even more so in the rain. If we win it'll be on the back of keeping the Dogs to a couple tries or less. Need a huge focus on defence
Yeah huge blow. Just exemplifies how costly our loss was last week as he would've had an extra week. Weather looking much more positive now. 40% chance of rain but mostly late morning. It was supposed to piss down all day today but didn't even rain till a couple of hours ago so the weather reports are fairly unreliable these days. Anyway, huge focus on defense but also sustaining pressure. I'm fairly confident on the back of repeat sets we can use our speed men to crack their defense. We have been slightly better at looking for repeat sets since Pearce has been injured so I'm hoping that continues. Need 10000% better direction from Maloney though. No more letting forwards get the ball at first reciever on last tackle
What an absolute fucking drop-a-thon. My god some of this has been downright disgusting to watch. Intense though.