Saturday second NRL Week 1 match is between Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles with the opening kick to commence at 7pm local time. The game is to be played at Allianz Stadium which see’s home team Sydney Roosters hold favouritism in the market. View our NRL live scores, odds and results for the game between Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles.

WHERE AND WHEN: Allianz Stadium, 7pm

Opening odds comparison:

Sydney Roosters	1.85	1.75	1.81	1.75	1.85	1.78
Manly Sea Eagles	2.00	2.12	2.00	2.12	2.00	2.00

Preview:

The third game in finals week 1 is between the Sydney Roosters and Manly Sea Eagles, Saturday, 7.45pm at Allianz Stadium. While the minor-premiership winning
Roosters have to be favourites here after their awesome display last week, the Sea Eagles will provide tough competition. This will most likely be a physical encounter, with
two hard fought, low-scoring matches between these two sides already this year. Manly are a great attacking side, but will face what is probably the best defence in the
competition this weekend. It goes without saying that they will also have to watch out for Sonny Bill Williams, who had a great game last week against the Rabbitohs.

The Roosters will go into this game with a lot of confidence, and rightfully so. However, they will have to pay very close attention to Manly this week, with the Sea Eagles
having lost just one game out of nine before last week’s match. In one very impressive statistic, the Manly backline have scored 85 tries in 2013, and are the best scoring
outfit in the second half of the year. With Stewart, Taufua, Jamie Lyon, Steve Matai, and Dave Williams scoring 41 tries in the last 10 games, the Roosters will have no time
to rest at all. It’s the attack of the Sea Eagles vs the defence of the Roosters this weekend, and if it ends up being another low-scoring game, you would have to back the
Roosters.

Teams:

Sydney Roosters:
Anthony Minichiello, Daniel Tupou, Michael Jennings, Shaun Kenny-Dowall, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, James Maloney, Mitchell Pearce, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, Jake Friend, Sam Moa, Mitchell Aubusson, Sonny Bill Williams, Frank-Paul Nuuausala. Interchange (from):Daniel Mortimer, Aidan Guerra, Isaac Liu, Dylan Napa, Luke O’Donnell, Martin Kennedy

Manly Sea Eagles:
Brett Stewart, Jorge Taufua, Jamie Lyon, Steve Matai, David Williams, Kieran Foran, Daly Cherry-Evans, Brenton Lawrence, Matt Ballin, Brent Kite, Anthony Watmough, Justin Horo, Glenn Stewart Interchange (from): Richie Fa’aoso, Tom Symonds, David Gower, George Rose, James Hasson.

JWH a huge loss for Roosters, says Cordner
Boyd Cordner rates Sydney Roosters teammate Jared Waerea-Hargreaves as the premier front-rower in rugby league and admits his absence from Saturday’s NRL final against Manly is a major blow.

But Cordner remains hopeful his teammates can beat the Sea Eagles at Allianz Stadium and keep alive Waerea-Hargreaves’ hopes of playing in the finals series.

The Kiwi prop was slugged with a one-game ban at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday after failing to overturn a dangerous contact charge following his forearm to the throat of South Sydney’s Chris McQueen in last Friday’s minor premiership decider.

Cordner, who’s been sidelined with syndesmosis since last month, is on target to be back in action for the preliminary final should the Roosters beat Manly and secure a week off.

But the 21-year-old NSW back-rower said his side would sorely miss Waerea-Hargreaves’ aggression against a vastly experienced Manly side competing in a ninth successive finals campaign.

“It was Sonny Bill’s best game of the year against Souths, but I thought Jared was unreal for us,” Cordner told AAP.

“He just showed again why, in my opinion, he’s currently the best front-rower in the game. He’s a massive loss for us.”

It is the second time Waerea-Hargreaves has been suspended this season after being given a five-week layoff following his send-off against the Sea Eagles for a shoulder charge to the head of George Rose.

The Roosters lost two of their five games during his absence but Cordner said it proved they could cope without him.

“But we have played and won without Jared before, but the boys will definitely have to step up and share the workload as he is a vital part of the team,” he said.

Cordner said he’s making good progress from the tightrope surgery he underwent to reattach the ligaments to the bone using wire inside the joint.

However, he said watching from the sidelines was proving to be as hard as the punishing rehabilitation he’s undergoing to get him back on the field.

“I am a week away from running I am hoping to get two weeks of running under my belt before I play,” he said.

“It’s been pretty heavy stuff with the physio, but I know it’s going to get me where I want to be.

“With the team we have and the chance we have of winning something this year, the timing of the injury was pretty shattering.

“Last Friday was the hardest game I had to watch … it made me hungrier to get out there as it was semi-final football.

“Watching Jared and Sonny going at it in front of that big crowd … it’s the games you want to play in.”