The first of Friday night’s NRL Round 9 matches is between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Nth Queensland Cowboys. The opening kick is set to commence at 7.35pm local time with the game to be played at ANZ Stadium. The home team the Sydney Roosters are the current short priced favourites to win the match and continue their great start to the season. View our preview and teams for the game between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Nth Queensland Cowboys.

ANZ Stadium

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Sydney Roosters $1.32 vs Penrith Panthers $3.40 at Sportsbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Sydney Roosters $1.30 vs Penrith Panthers $3.65 at Luxbet Australia get a $500 FREE BET on this match

Odds Comparison by NRL Odds:

South Sydney Rabbitohs	1.32	1.30	1.30	1.30	1.32	1.33
Nth Queensland Cowboys	3.40	3.50	3.65	3.50	3.40	3.40

Preview:

Any lingering doubts about South Sydney being genuine title contenders this year will have been quashed in the past weeks with the Rabbitohs having posted solid wins against Manly and Brisbane – both on the road.

This year and in these most recent matches especially, they have displayed a focus and belief in themselves that in years gone by, had been lacking.

This week they return to ANZ Stadium for the first time in three weeks with a full roster of players and winning form.

Facing the struggling West Tigers and Cronulla Sharks in the next two rounds before meeting Newcastle in round 12, there’s a strong chance that at the halfway point of the competition, the Rabbitohs will still be sitting atop of the table.

The Cowboys, who are currently eighth on the ladder with a 4-4 record this year, had to dig deep last week to hold off Parramatta who were searching for only their third win of the season.

A try to Brent Tate with only ten minutes to play put the Cowboys in front and on the stroke of full-time, they were saved the T.M.O who disallowed a Parramatta try that in the least, would have tied up the game.

They still haven’t reached the standard they are capable of eight rounds into the comp and will not find it easy this week against arguably, the most in-form team of the competition.

Two and four points have separated the two sides in their most recent clashes (26-24 and 20-16) with South Sydney triumphant on both occasions.

Souths are going much better now then there were then and expect they’ll be too good here.

Teams:

South Sydney Rabbitohs:
Greg Inglis, Nathan Merritt, Beau Champion, Bryson Goodwin, Andrew Everingham, John Sutton, Adam Reynolds, Dave Tyrell, Issac Luke, Roy Asotasi, Chris McQueen, Ben Te’o, Sam Burgess
Interchange: Nathan Peats, Jason Clark, Ben Lowe, George Burgess, Jeff Lima, Justin Hunt (two to be omitted)

Nth Queensland Cowboys:
Matthew Bowen, Ashley Graham, Brent Tate, Kane Linnett, Antonio Winterstein, Johnathan Thurston (c), Michael Morgan, Matt Scott (c), Rory Kostjasyn, James Tamou, Tariq Sims, Gavin Cooper, Dallas Johnson
Interchange: Ray Thompson, Glenn Hall, Joel Riethmuller, Ashton Sims, Scott Bolton, Scott Moore
(two to be omitted)

Cowboys the NRL’s smokeys: Stuart

Nothing Ricky Stuart has seen in the opening two months of the NRL has shaken his belief that North Queensland remain the competition’s top dark horse.

Lowly-placed Parramatta (2-6) outplayed the Cowboys (4-4) for much of Saturday night’s 14-10 home loss but the former NSW mentor still fancies Neil Henry’s men as title hopes.

“I said at the start of the year that the Cowboys are a smokey to win the comp,” Stuart said.

“They’re a top four team and that gave me even more joy after the game, the way we stuck it to them.

“They’ve got two of the best front-rowers (Matt Scott and James Tamou) in the comp, they’ve got the best halfback in the world (Johnathan Thurston) playing five-eighth.

“We didn’t do ourselves any harm tonight. We stuck it to them and dug deep.”

The Cowboys picked up their third win from their past four clashes to hold onto their spot in the top eight.

But Friday night presents a whole new challenge for the Townsville-based team, when they return to Sydney to face the hottest team in the competition – South Sydney.

The Rabbitohs have lost just once this year, and are coming off victories over Manly and Brisbane.

Rather than eye off the Bunnies just yet, Henry preferred to bask in the emotion-charged victory over the Eels which occurred just five days after the death of young hooker Alex Elisala.

“(South Sydney) are certainly going really well. They’re a powerful side and playing some good footy,” Henry said.

“We need to savour this as a win which we needed.”