The Maroons face a headache as star winger Xavier Coates is confirmed to have torn his right hamstring in Melbourne’s win over Canberra and will miss Origin III.
Selwyn Cobbo appears to be obvious candidate to come into the Queensland backlin, although Dane Gagai was named in the extended squad for Game II, while in form Titans Alofiana Khan-Pereira and Phil Sami are possible contenders.
On the pitch, the Roosters take on Wests Tigers to close out round 17.
Earlier, Maroons forward Jaydn Su’A starred at centre as the Dragons scored five unanswered second-half tries to beat the Dolphins 26-6 and move back into the top eight.
In Penrith, the Cowboys, missing five of their Origin stars, beat a similarly-changed Panthers team 16-6 to claim their fifth win in their last six matches and move to seventh on the ladder.
Follow the live blog below, keep up to date with all the latest stats in our ScoreCentre, and tune in to our live radio coverage.
Key events
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Live updates: Roosters vs Wests Tigers
21′ The Roosters have another
Oh this is turning into a blank cheque for the Roosters.
They are tearing the Tigers up.
Manu battered his way down the left side before eventually being hauled down.
Then Walker found Watson, who found Terrell May in midfield, and the big prop decided that he will go himself and crashed over to score.
The Roosters players come and play with his rat tail hair cut but they are in cruise control now.
The kick is good, it’s 16-0.
20′ Brent Naiden whacks Crichton in the eye
That’s a penalty and Naiden gets away with being placed on report.
Queenslanders might want to take note, because that did stop the rampaging Blues prop, something they couldn’t manage on Wednesday.
18′ Dom Young has a double!
Oh that was brilliant from Connor Watson who offloaded to James Tedesco.
He was cut down after Keary overran him in support.
The ball was shifted left again at quick pace and Walker loops a pass over the top for Young, who slides over again, beating the tackle and scoring yet another double, his third against the Tigers and 15th in his NRL career.
The sideline conversion is from the same position for Walker, but this time he misses.
It remains 10-0
15′ Dom Young slides over!
Lovely quick hands from the Roosters out to the right wing.
Tedesco found Joey Manu, who popped the ball out to the English flyer, who slides over after a bit of a stutter step to score his 11th try of the season.
Wonderful skills in the rain from the Roosters.
Sam Walker nails his kick from the sideline to continue his excellent record off the tee this season and the Roosters lead 6-0.
11′ Daniel Tupou denied a score in the corner
It’s too easy from Tupou.
He started the move at one end of the field as the Roosters moved the ball left early.
And then he finished the move on the left side again.
Hang on though, perhaps he was given some assistance from a lead runner taking out a Tigers defender…
That’s what the Bunker says, it’s Angus Crichton who is pinged and the try is chalked off.
5′ Tigers challenge an offside call
Samuela Fainu
stuck the foot out and then picked up the ball as the Roosters challenge the Tigers line.
Sam
Walker
with the little grubber kick – the referee thinks Fainu picked this up after a different Tigers player put the boot out.
That should be OK – a great challenge and the Tigers will have the ball.
Well, now I’m hungry
Roosters are convenient on a Sunday…
– The cook
1′ We are underway at the Football Stadium
The Roosters will have the first use of the ball, the Tigers kicking to the right side at a soggy Sydney Football Stadium that is very, very sparsely populated – the punters voting with their feet when it comes to this Sunday night timeslot.
James Tedesco ‘s 150th Roosters game
Not only is it the coach that has a milestone.
James Tedesco is playing his 150th game for the Roosters.
He did also make 90 appearances for the Wests Tigers.
Meanwhile, Jared
Waerea-Hargreaves
plays his 306th game for the Roosters, matching Mitchell Aubusson for the most all time.
Roosters vs Wests Tigers team news
No late changes for either side in the last game of our triple header today.
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Connor Watson, Spencer Leniu, Angus Crichton and Lindsay Collins will all back up from Origin for the Roosters.
John Bateman returns after five games out with a pec injury, while David Klemmer is back from suspension.
300 games for Trent Robinson
Another coaching milestone this weekend, as Trent Robinson coaches his 300th NRL match.
All of those matches have come as coach of the Roosters.
“No, I was happy to get the job in the first place,” Robinson told Fox Sports.
“It’s been a privilege. It’s been such an honour to coach at the Roosters. It’s nice.”
Good stat this
Well played Cowboys – the first team to win away from home since Storm beat the ‘Phins way back in the first game of round 16
– Mike
And what a place to win as well.
Very impressive result for the Cowboys, who were missing five of their Origin stars, just like the Panthers.
Cowboys win error-strewn contest against Panthers
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The Cowboys move to seventh on the NRL ladder with a 16-6 victory over the Panthers in soaking conditions in Penrith.
With both sides missing their Origin stars, it was the Cowboys who handled the conditions best, in a match where the Panthers made 13 errors to the Cowboys seven.
Kyle Feldt and Braidon Burns scored the opening two tries of the contest, the second try coming when Scott Drinkwater was in the sin bin.
North Queensland also lost Jaxon Purdue before half time as they resisted the Panthers with multiple repeat sets on their defensive line.
Brad Schneider did cross before the break as the weight of 11 from 12 sets told, but after the break it was the Cowboys who handled the conditions better.
Purdue scored his first career try to seal the game
The Cowboys have now won five of their last six.
77′ The Panthers make their 10th error of the night
It’s just not happening for the Panthers tonight.
Another handling error, another mistake, another chance for the Cowboys to run in and come together again.
It was Casey McLean this time.
The Cowboys are about to win their ninth game of the season and move up to seventh on the ladder.
69′ Head clash
That’s a nasty head clash between Sunia
Turuva and Jake Granville.
It left Turuva on the ground and slow to get up.
It was just a head clash so no penalty, but the doctor will likely want to have a bit of a look at that.
Both players are staying on at the moment.
62′ Jaxon Purdue scores his first NRL try!
Lovely little dummy and a run through the middle from Purdue.
But it came from a brilliant steal up the other end and then a pick up and run from Scott Drinkwater.
He raced half way down the field to set the Cowboys up to score their third try of the game.
Excellent counter-attack from the Cowboys.
The kick is missed, it’s 16-6 to the Cowboys – who are just as undermanned as the Panthers, it should be remembered.
61′ Heilum Luki is knocked out
Oh that’s a bad one – Heilum Luki got his body in the way of Sunia
Turuva
and was spat out the back, landing flat on his back looking up into the darkening sky.
He’ll go off and I doubt that he’ll be back.
58′ Another error
We’re now up to 13 errors in the match, eight of which have been against the Panthers.
The latest was a cold drop by Luron Patea.
The weather and conditions have made this a pretty tough watch.
50′ Rain coming down
Paul
Alamoti
does really well from a short drop out and then slips and loses the ball.
It’s like a lump of soap out there at the moment, and the surface is just as slippery.
It’s making things very difficult for both teams as the rain comes down harder and harder at a subdued Panther stadium.
Errors appear to be the order of the day, unsurprising in these conditions.
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