Parramatta Eels vs Sydney Roosters Predictions: Tedesco To Increase Parra Pain

The Parramatta Eels host the Sydney Roosters on Saturday (kick-off 10:35 BST, 19:35 local, live on Sky Sports Action) needing to get their season back on track.

Having won two of their first three games, the have collected just a pair of victories in the 10 since, making the visit of the Chooks a must-win if they are to have play-off dreams. But that poor run will factor heavily in my Parramatta Eels vs Sydney Roosters predictions.

Parramatta Eels vs Sydney Roosters Odds

The Eels are 15/8 to collect their fifth win of 2024, with the visiting Roosters priced at 4/9 to be victorious in 80 minutes. You can get 20/1 on the game going to golden-point extra-time.

Team News

The Eels welcome back Luca Moretti, Maika Sivo, Morgan Harper and Ryan Matterson. All four were in the initial squad for last week’s narrow loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs but while Moretti, Harper and Matterson were overlooked, Sivo was a very late omission.

He is given the number two shirt again this week, with Daejarn Asi returning to the bench. Trent Barrett is still without Haze Dunster (foot), Ofahiki Ogden (pec) and Bailey Simonsson (knee).

There are also a host of alterations for the Roosters post-Origin duty. Into the initial 22 come skipper James Tedesco, Angus Crichton, Connor Watson, Ethan King, Lindsay Collins and Spencer Leniu.

Blake Steep and Brandon Smith miss out, while Trent Robinson continues to have to go without the injured trio of Egan Butcher (knee), Billy Smith (ankle) and Robert Toia (knee).

2-way Alternative 1: Roosters -12.5 @ 13/8

It would be nice to take the positives out of the Eels’ three games so far under Barrett since he replaced Brad Arthur, but their only win came against a Cronulla Sharks side showing multiple changes due to Origin call-ups.

Yes, it was still the Sharks, who have been going great guns for the most part, but that for me was just one of those results that can happen around Origin time.

The cold, hard fact is that that result is Parramatta’s only win since round six, and they’ve been shipping a fair number of points along the way. They have the second-worst defence in the competition and are coming up against the league’s best attack. And I can’t ignore that.

That’s why I have the Roosters down for a win by three scores, and the 13/8 price implies a 38.1% probability which I believe does the Chooks down.

Roosters Over 30.5 Total Points @ 6/5

For my second prediction I was initially looking at the Total Points market since Parra have scored quite a few in many of their defeats this season, but I reckon the safest shout is to back the Roosters to clear the 30-point mark.

They’ve already reached 31 or more on five occasions in 2024, and now that they are coming up against the league’s leakiest defence – barring a Rabbitohs side they put 48 on back in March – I see a fair number of players in that back line who could really cash in.

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