Wests Tigers vs Sydney Roosters Preview

NRL season openers do not get tougher than this for the home side. Tigers' 2017 season was remarkable for all the wrong reasons, as they lost three of their biggest stars in James Tedesco, club captain Aaron Woods and Mitchell Moses. It's fair to say they have recruited well, and the players in the squad at the start of this campaign will want to impress. But the Roosters have, on paper at least, the strongest squad in the competition. There are very few chinks in the Sydney armour that any side could exploit - and those that are there are small. How Cronk and Tedesco settle is vital, but they're seasoned campaigners who know their way around a rugby club. The inconvenient truth of the rugby league betting odds is that the Tigers face a mission impossible first up.

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Wests Tigers vs Sydney Roosters Prediction

As Odds Digger's rugby league tips show, the expectation will weigh heavily on Sydney this season. The squad is bursting with talent and experience, but the decision to oust club legend Mitchell Pearce in favour of Cooper Cronk means that the pressure to win an NRL title in the next two years could form diamonds. That said, talent and experience show. These players, along with coach Trent Robinson, know how to handle the pressure. They are one of the favourites for grand final glory for a reason - and should prove too strong for even a rejuvenated Wests Tigers side, who would surprise most if they made it to the finals.

Wests Tigers vs Sydney Roosters Sharks Betting Tips

It's almost impossible to over-emphasise the scale of the task facing Tigers as they kick off their 2018 NRL campaign against their Sydney rivals. Roosters are as good as it gets in the competition, and while many would like to see them lose for the finger-pointing, the laugh-out-loud thrill of it, that thinking is unlikely to win many bets. The fact is, coming into the season, the visitors simply look far too strong for the hosts to keep up with, which explains why William Hill’s odds on a Roosters' win is about as good as it gets.

Rugby league can, and often does, provide lop-sided scores between what look like, on paper, evenly matched sides. But these really are not evenly matched sides. Such is the expectation of a Roosters' victory that it's not until the winning margin reaches 13 or more than any bookmaker, such as Betfair, is prepared to offer evens. In comparison, for Tigers to win by the same margin, a brave punter could get odds of 9/1 or 10/1. Given Roosters' all-around quality, and their 22 wins from 30 meetings record against their city rivals, these winning margin odds look perfectly reasonable.