Sydney Roosters vs North Queensland Cowboys Predictions: Visitors up against it

Sydney Roosters will look to keep within touching distance of the teams at the top of the NRL standings when they play host to the North Queensland Cowboys on Sunday morning (KO, 07:05). With the highly-anticipated State of Origin series fast approaching, both the Roosters and the Cowboys will be missing some of their big names for this weekend’s encounter at the Allianz Stadium in Sydney.

The Cowboys have won their last two games against the struggling South Sydney Rabbitohs and Wests Tigers - the bottom two sides in the table - but might well be brought back down to earth against the Roosters on Sunday. Read below for my Sydney Roosters vs North Queensland Cowboys predictions and all the latest team news.

Team News

Starting with the hosts, the Roosters will be without the likes of Joseph Sua'ali'i, Lindsay Collins, Angus Crichton and Spencer Leniu who have all been called up for State of Origin duty.

Junior Pauga, Terrell May and Nat Butcher are among the players called into the starting lineup to fill the void for head coach Trent Robinson.

The Roosters will have to continue without Egan Butcher, who is out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.

As for the visitors, the Cowboys have their own stars away on Origin duty, with Val Holmes, Murray Taulagi, Jeremiah Nanai, Reece Robson, Tom Dearden and Reuben Cotter set to feature for the Maroons.

Tom Chester returns from a hamstring injury in the centres, while Braidon Burns gets another opportunity on the wing after he made his debut for the Cowboys in Round 11.

Sydney Roosters vs North Queensland Cowboys Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Sydney Roosters vs North Queensland Cowboys page on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this match.

The Roosters are firm favourites to claim the victory on Sunday at 1/10 in the match-winner market.

North Queensland are 6/1 to leave Sydney with the victory, while a draw at the Allianz Arena is available at 33/1.

Sydney Roosters -20 Handicap 3-Way @ 21/20

Winning three of their last four meetings with the Cowboys, the Roosters can look back confidently on recent success in this fixture.

The Roosters are the highest points scorers in the NRL going into this weekend’s round of matches, as they have wracked up an impressive 370 in just 12 games, while their points differential of 135 is also way out in front of the rest of the league.

Averaging 30.8 points per game, the Roosters look capable of putting the Cowboys to the sword this weekend and overcoming the -20 handicap on offer, particularly considering only two teams have conceded more points than the visitors’ tally of 315.

Over 51.5 total points @ 5/6

Given the rate the Roosters have been scoring this season, there should be plenty of tries witnessed at Allianz Stadium this weekend.

The Cowboys are no slouches in their attacking play either, and rank as the second highest points scorers in the competition so far with 317.

This might well be an end-to-end contest in Sydney and fans going to the match can expect to get their money’s worth with a high-scoring game.

Overcoming 51.5 total points in his game should prove no trouble for two of the best attacking teams in the NRL, even if some big names are away with the Blues and Maroons.

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