Cowboys have us beat across the park talent wise comparing the two rosters. They have a better spine and are slightly better than us in the backs and forwards (there isn't much between the bench either but if I had to pick a side I'd probably so with the Cowboys).
We should be better in the effort areas and the defensive side of the game as it's what our game is based on (and what our players are good at) so if we're to win it's going to be in a low scoring game where we compete for close to 80 minutes and come out of the grind on top (which I think is going to be a trend in most games we play this year).
We'll need Cowboys to make mistakes (which is still hard for us to turn into points) and not finish their opportunities.
DWZ and Holmes are both wingers playing fullback. They both have issues under the high ball. They both struggle with ball playing (going off round 1 Holmes is slightly better - not much of a sample size).
Meaney and Reimis need to be electric on that left hand side otherwise I think the Cowboys backs in Feldt and Marsters will show us up (they're all on the same side). I can't believe Crichton is currently our best option on the right wing.
We're going to need a massive game from Wakeham that shows us why he's our five-eighth or halfback moving forward (if Wakeham and Lewis play like they did last week we're going to create nothing, we're barely going to look dangerous). Drinkwater and Morgan aren't even close to being the best halves pairing in the NRL (they're both very good ball runners and Morgan has better game management than our halves - which isn't his strength) but I think it's going to be a massive challenge for us to come out on top in that battle.
Defensively our forwards are very strong but Elliott is the only forward I see that's going to be any sort of a threat with the ball (this is where CHN would come in handy). The Cowboys have Hess (he's a little out of form) and more importantly Taumalolo which is going to cause us a massive headache (you can't defend Taumalolo for 65 minutes, he's going to break through, attract multiple defenders, generate a quick play the ball, etc - he's the middle version of David Fifita and he's even better imo).
I've seen some analysts talk about the game and a lot of them are actually tipping the Bulldogs due to what they saw in round one. I hope we're able to come out on top and get our first win of the season just I'm not so sure myself when looking into it.