Roosters v Sharks: What you need to know

Above: Roosters captain Jake Friend, who'll be in action this weekend.

Central Coast Stadium is expecting a bumper crowd of around 15,000 for this Saturday's NRL game between the Roosters and Sharks.

The gates open at 10.30am with the NYC game kicking off at 10.45.

It'll be followed by the NSW Cup clash between the Wyong Roos and Newtown Jets at 12.40.

The main game gets underway at 3.

Road closures will be in effect from midday: Dane Drive will be closed between Donnison street and the Central Coast highway between 10:30am and 6pm.

The lead up

The tri-colours sit second on the ladder, and plucked a golden point win last weekend to defeat Melbourne.

While defending premiers Cronulla need a win to stay in touch with the top four. The Sharks have trailed at half time in each of their last seven matches. They ended up winning five of those games but crucially, the two they lost were against top four sides like Sydney currently is.

Roosters Assistant Coach Craig Fitzgibbon says it should be a good game between two 'cranky' teams. 

The teams

SYDNEY: Roosters Captain Boyd Cordner will again not play due to the calf injury sustained in Origin II, meaning Ryan Matterson will be moved into the starting second row position.

While Aidan Guerra will start at lock in place of Siosiua Taukeiaho, who's resting his hamstring again this week in hopes of being 100% fit for the Round 18 clash with the Rabbitohs.

CRONULLA: Fa’amanu Brown comes in for Jayden Brailey, who broke his jaw in a tackle on Manly’s Dylan Walker in 48^th minute of last Sunday’s match.