Friday, Olympic Park, 7.35pm

Referee: Shayne Hayne

The Roosters have won their past two games against the Storm, but it will be much tougher this time. Both of those wins were at the SFS.

The Storm were due for a loss the first time, in round 20 last season, because they had won seven in a row. And it didn't hurt them, because they didn't lose another game along the way to winning the premiership.

The second time was in round three this season, and the Storm had come out of the blocks a little slowly to begin their defence of the title. You have still got to hand it to any team that beats Melbourne, under any circumstances, but the Storm are at home this time and they need to keep winning to make sure of a top-two spot going into the finals. They will be right up for this game.

The Roosters have been a bit up and down recently. They lost two, then won two, and then lost again last weekend, to Parramatta. The Storm, on the other hand, are hot. They have won five of their last six, including last weekend's heavyweight clash against Manly. The Roosters have got players who are capable of threatening the Storm, but as a team they need to improve on their recent form to have a chance of winning here. The Storm deserve hot favouritism.