Roar Guru
The Sydney Roosters are on a three match losing streak and face another tough assignment against the Cronulla Sharks away from home. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7.30pm (AEST).
Ever since getting out of jail against Brisbane a month ago, the Roosters have failed to kick-start their premiership defence and currently find themselves with a mountain to climb seven rounds into the new season.
The Roosters once again suffered tight defeat, this time to an Eels side that showed plenty of commitment in defence to keep Sydney at bay.
Last season, Sydney finished with the best defensive and attacking record in the NRL. While their defence remains relatively solid, their attack has been poor to say the least.
Trent Robinson’s men have failed to score a single second half point in their past three matches. Such a statistic is cause for great concern.
The effort is certainly there from the Roosters. Bar a poor first round loss to South Sydney, the Roosters have been well in the contest in defeats to Manly, Canterbury and Parramatta.
The Roosters though just lack that killer punch to open teams wide open and this was highlighted when Boyd Cordner somehow bombed a try in the opening few seconds against the Eels last week.
Cronulla meanwhile were well outplayed by Manly last week and are also struggling to find winning form.
The Sharks however have troubled the Roosters greatly in recent seasons at Remondis Stadium and could so here yet again.
Cronulla have to keep things as physical as possible tonight. The Roosters have struggled to match the intensity of opposition rivals over the past few weeks and could do so here if the Sharks roll up their sleeves and brace themselves for an arm wrestle.
With both teams struggling to hit top form, the Sharks at home are certainly capable of causing the upset.
Sharks by 6.