Rabbitohs vs Roosters NRL Friday tips & top odds – Rd 3, 2022

The oldest rivalry in the game will write another chapter when the South Sydney Rabbitohs play host to the Sydney Roosters on Friday Night Football.

There is a ton of bad blood between the two sides following Latrell Mitchell’s high shot on Joseph Manu in their clash at the end of last season, which left Manu with a fractured eye socket.

Mitchell’s temper reached boiling point the longer the game went and a depleted Roosters outfit were spanked, and you can guarantee they haven’t forgotten that infamous evening at Suncorp Stadium.

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Souths come into the game as the $2.45 outsider, having not yet registered a win in 2022. The Rabbitohs have really struggled to get the cohesion together that has been the trademark of their game over the past two seasons.

After a rough performance to start the season, the Roosters looked far closer to the finished article in their 26-12 win over Manly last weekend. They may be the $1.55 favourite with BetOnline, but the selection of Angus Crichton on the interchange bench suggests coach Trent Robinson is sending a message to his team.

There has been a whole lot of hullabaloo about what Souths need to do to fix their attack, having struggled mightily for the majority of the contest against Melbourne to score as well as producing the same kind of results against the Broncos in Round 1. A crazy finish to the game against the Storm shouldn’t detract from what was a poor performance on the whole.

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The outside backs butchered several chances with bad handling, which somehow led to a chorus of criticism toward Lachlan Ilias and Cody Walker despite them creating plenty of space. An interesting side note for Walker is he has scored in each of the last three games against the Chooks at Accor Stadium, making the $3.40 anytime tryscorer price at Sportsbet hard to ignore.

There may be a case to make that a rivalry game sharpens South Sydney’s focus, but the betting trend suggests the punters aren’t feeling the same optimism. The head-to-head market had Souths starting at $2.20 and they’ve since drifted, so the punters are telling you exactly where they think they money is going to be made.

Roosters skipper James Tedesco admitted earlier in the week that his team was too emotional when it took on the Rabbitohs in Round 3 last year – a fixture that was dominated by the Jai Arrow storyline in the build-up. Souths took care of business on that occasion and the Chooks had their feathers ruffled, and it resulted in Daniel Fifita being sin binned for throwing a punch at Arrow.

The key for the Roosters is they’ve identified where they went wrong in a similar situation, and good teams don’t make the same mistake twice.
Crichton being named on the bench serves as a great reward for Nat Butcher, who was terrific against the Sea Eagles, but also as a great motivator for Crichton to produce his best football and create competition within the squad.

The 1-12 margin looks to be the most popular option at around $3.10 with the top NRL betting sites, while Daniel Tupou is the first tryscorer favourite at $8.50.

Rabbitohs vs Roosters predictions & best bets

The Roosters should prove too good for the Rabbitohs and consign Souths to their third consecutive loss. James Tedesco will produce a man-of-the-match performance and score a try, while Cody Walker will show some glimpses of his best and also get a try.

Rabbitohs vs Roosters NRL same-game multi

The Roosters by 1-12 with James Tedesco, Cody Walker, Alex Johnston and Daniel Tupou all scoring a try pays an outlandish $67.50, but it’s well worth a shout.

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