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Can the Canterbury Bulldogs overcome the loss of Ben Barba and rise to the occasion against premiership contenders North Queensland Cowboys? Join us for live scores and commentary from 7.30pm AEDT to find out.
On paper, this should have been the match of the round between two teams with realistic chances of lifting the premiership come September.
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, the sting has been taken out of this contest due to Barba’s indefinite absence from the game due to off field troubles.
Canterbury have thus been deprived of their most potent attacking weapon, and that may well prove to be just enough of a blow to give the Cowboys the edge tonight.
North Queensland is at full strength and will be keen to start the season on a high after last year’s controversial finals defeat to the Sea Eagles.
Prediction
It may sound cliché but the result of this match will largely depend on which set of forwards gets the upper hand.
Both teams possess terrific forward packs and it will be intriguing to see which side wins the arm wrestle tonight.
Despite Barba’s absence, it’s not all doom and gloom for the Bulldogs tonight given that star recruit Tony Williams makes his debut for the club.
With the acquisition of Williams, the Bulldogs forward pack will fancy its chances of overpowering most opposition up front this season.
The Cowboys however possess a formidable pack of their own with Tariq Sims, Jason Taumalolo, Dallas Johnson, Matt Scott and James Tamou all offering North Queensland the perfect mixture of skill and strength in the forwards.
The battle between Scott and Sam Kasiano in particular should be a real highlight tonight. Both of these forwards played exceptionally well last season and will be keen to get the better of one another in a bruising contest.
If the Bulldogs manage to win the arm wrestle up front, Canterbury will go a long way to nullifying the attacking threat presented by Cowboys superstars Johnathan Thurston and Matt Bowen and should be favoured to grind their way to victory.
Failure to halt the Cowboys big men however and tonight’s contest could easily turn into the Thurston and Bowen show.
If these two players click tonight, the Cowboys should have more than enough firepower to beat a Bulldogs outfit minus the attacking genius of Barba.
Regardless of the result, tonight’s contest should be a cracker between two genuine premiership contenders.
Cowboys by 4.