Sydney Roosters are strong favourites to become the first team to win back-to-back titles for 21 years when they lock horns with Canberra Raiders in the NRL Grand Final on Sunday.

The Roosters dethroned Melbourne Storm at ANZ Stadium last year and are expected to shatter the Raiders' hopes of being crowned champions for the first time since 1994.

Canberra have a terrible record when facing the defending champions in New South Wales, but Ricky Stuart's men will be not be thinking about that when they run out in Sydney this weekend.

We pick out a selection of Opta facts ahead of the decider.

 

- This will be the third time the Roosters and Canberra have clashed in the finals series during the NRL era – with the Roosters having won the previous encounters by 28 (2000 semi-final) and 26 (2004 quarter-final) point margins respectively.

- The Roosters have won 17 of their 18 matches against the Raiders in New South Wales since the NRL commenced in 1998.

- Jarrod Croker needs eight points to become the first Raiders player to score 2000 in the NRL. He has scored 48 points in his last five matches against the Roosters, crossing the try line on each occasion in that span.

- Canberra's Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad (1527) and Sydney's James Tedesco (1467) have gained the most metres from kick returns amongst all players in NRL 2019.

- The defending champions have scored the most tries than any other team this season, with 116 to their opponents' 93. 

- Canberra have won three of their five NRL Grand Final appearances. This is the first time they have been involved on the final day of the season since being crowned champions in 1994.

- Only the Storm (9.4) and Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs (9.7) have averaged fewer errors per game than the Raiders (10.0) in NRL 2019. The Roosters have averaged 12.2 per game - the second most.