Roosters set up NRL preliminary final with Broncos

A hat-trick from Shaun Kenny-Dowall helped Sydney Roosters keep their NRL Grand Final hopes alive with a 38-12 win over Canterbury Bulldogs.

The Roosters winger crossed for the first try in Friday's semi-final after 11 minutes and added a further two scores in the second half as the minor premiers cruised through and ended the Bulldogs' season.

Sydney now visit Suncorp Stadium in seven days' time to take on Brisbane Broncos for a place in the Grand Final.

James Maloney opened the scoring at Allianz Stadium with a ninth-minute penalty before Kenny-Dowall benefited from some good work by Blake Ferguson to go over out wide.

Timoteo Lafai answered with a score from close range to cut the gap to 8-4 at the interval.

But the Roosters' quality told in the second half - Kane Evans was awarded a controversial 51st-minute try, despite appearing short of the line, before turning provider to set up Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for Sydney's third.

Frank Pritchard and Josh Morris combined to put Damien Cook in for a try and pull the Bulldogs within two converted scores on the hour mark.

However, any hope of a fightback was extinguished as Kenny-Dowall added his second in the 66th minute and, after Boyd Cordner cut through to make it 32-8, completed his treble by rising highest to collect a bomb and touch down.

Curtis Rona provided a late consolation for the Bulldogs, but it is Sydney who are now just a game away from the end-of-season showpiece.