Official Match Day Thread: Roosters v Cowboys

[Thirteen]

We should be coming into this clash full of enthusiasm. With the Origin boys back and the young guns stepping up in their absence, the squad should be confident.

The Cowboys have been hot and cold all season. They are coming off a smashing so I'd expect them to come out firing. Our pack needs to dominate the middle and shut down their forward momentum before it ever gets going.

The Roosters by plenty. Cowboys might bring their hats, but they’ll be chasing shadows. We’re heading toward the Top 4, and this is a hurdle we shouldn't have any problems overcoming. It's time to pluck some Cowboys.

GO ROOSTERS!

[The Lip]

Big game for our ladder position. A win and it could be 6th a loss and 11th. I feel we have played better without the stars this year - I hope we put that feeling to bed today and give the home base a much needed win.

Hopefully Losalu in for ZDC as I don’t think we need Beniah and Zac on the bench. Conner should be fresh with the byes and origin he hasn’t played very many minutes of footy over the past 7 weeks. Looking forward to seeing Foketi continue his rise to stardom.

[caz]

yeah, with our start every game is huge for our ladder position. they need to put that into perspective and just play good footy. keep defending well and reduce errors with ball in hand. we've got points in us.

dry track on a sunday arvo. going to be good. go easts!

[Steggles]

Both teams coming off disappointing displays (albeit we won) and will play with more discipline and aggression in the middle. Roosters by 8 in a high scoring game. Marky Mark to get a double.

[Bansai Pipeline]

I've seen a fair few shock losses to the Cowboys in my time. The Cows have plenty to play for, career wise.

Hope we're on.

[Bates]

Up the Chooks.

[Vasco]

I've seen a fair few shock losses to the Cowboys in my time. The Cows have plenty to play for, career wise.

Hope we're on.

My worst memory again the Cowboys is the loss in 1999 on a Saturday afternoon. One of our worst ever performances.

Big game today. Penriff winning keeps the pressure on. No excuses, need to win at home

[Sentimentinel]

Lessssssss goooooooo choooooooks

[The Lip]

My worst memory again the Cowboys is the loss in 1999 on a Saturday afternoon. One of our worst ever performances.

Big game today. Penriff winning keeps the pressure on. No excuses, need to win at home

Maybe not as bad a hiding but round 26 2009 v Cows - Fitzy s last game for us 32/16 I think and we were never in it. Worst way to send a champ out I recall being so gutted for him that day - it looked like half our squad had had money on the Cows.

[Batemans Bay Rooster]

Maybe not as bad a hiding but round 26 2009 v Cows - Fitzy s last game for us 32/16 I think and we were never in it. Worst way to send a champ out I recall being so gutted for him that day - it looked like half our squad had had money on the Cows.

And there was speculation at the time about internal strife because some players did just that.

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ALLEGATIONS of match-fixing have hit the Sydney Roosters, surrounding an alleged betting scam in the National Rugby League club's last home game of the season.

Bookmakers suspended betting three times in the lead-up to the round-26 game between the Roosters and the North Queensland Cowboys in Sydney after a splurge of bets backed the Cowboys to win by more than 13 points. Extraordinarily, there was little interest in a straight Cowboys win.

It is believed one punter outlayed $1500 after hearing, through Rooster associates, that a 13-plus-point loss was ''a sure thing''. The Roosters surrendered a 16-0 half-time lead to lose 32-16. Since the September 6 game, some players have hurled accusations. They are furious that some Roosters ''celebrated'' the loss by visiting a brothel, free of charge.

One player accused a teammate of getting a kickback. ''I'm aware that several of the players have been up there [to the brothel] on a weekly basis throughout the year.''

The player said he was stunned by claims that results were being manipulated. But he noted there was one player ''who would do it'', while others were young and impressionable.

[Vasco]

Maybe not as bad a hiding but round 26 2009 v Cows - Fitzy s last game for us 32/16 I think and we were never in it. Worst way to send a champ out I recall being so gutted for him that day - it looked like half our squad had had money on the Cows.

Yeah that game stank. We had a big lead from memory.

Interestingly, certain players were moved on after that game.

[mattyh]

The worst was the 17 preliminary loss horrid .

This game will not be easy , cowboys are better then last week showing .

Please Chooks , don't come in complacent , ball security and we'll go well.

[mightyrooster]

Actually, just the last few years even, we’ve lost to them at home when we really shouldn’t have. We really can’t afford to let that happen again today. We need to hold the ball and stop the stupid errors.

[milanja]

Big game for our ladder position. A win and it could be 6th a loss and 11th. I feel we have played better without the stars this year - I hope we put that feeling to bed today and give the home base a much needed win.

Hopefully Losalu in for ZDC as I don’t think we need Beniah and Zac on the bench. Conner should be fresh with the byes and origin he hasn’t played very many minutes of footy over the past 7 weeks. Looking forward to seeing Foketi continue his rise to stardom.

Agree with playing better without some of our big name players.

Hopefully Spencer and Collins can put that theory to bed today

[Rooster_6]

Beautiful day for it, should be plenty of points.