Another massive double-header in the NRL on Friday night with two interesting matchups. Can the Raiders get the back on track against the Dragons? Which Cowboys side will turn up against the Moses-less Eels at Bankwest Stadium?
NRL Round 8 Friday Betting Tips
Raiders vs Dragons
(Fri, Jul 3 6:00pm)
The Raiders are finally back at GIO Stadium, Canberra this Friday and they'll be hoping for a turnaround in form after back to back defeats. While they pushed the Eels into extra time last week, they were down by 12 points with a few minutes remaining. Once again, it was another error-riddled performance and 54 missed tackles would not please Ricky Stuart. So he's moved new recruit Curtis Scott to the bench and Michael Oldfield comes into the starting lineup. Rapana is also out with injury on the wing and Simonsson takes his place. The other big change sees Tapine return for Horsburgh.
For the Dragons, they pushed the Roosters last week despite an expected blowout. It was 10-10 at halftime, they made fewer errors compared to the Roosters and recorded a better completion rate at 83%. While the Roosters class got them over the line in the end, the Dragons should head to Canberra with a good amount of confidence of an upset. There are no changes for St. George in team selections thus far so it's good to see the Dragons playing with a settled lineup.
In the head to head between these two sides, the Dragons have a slight edge at 4-2 since 2015. However, with the usual cold conditions in Canberra expected on Friday night, we like the changes of the Under. The only game at GIO this year resulted in 30 total points and we'd expect a similar result.
Under 39.5 Total Points
$1.90
Eels vs Cowboys
(Fri, Jul 3 7:55pm)
The Eels return to Bankwest Stadium on Friday night as they aim for their 7th win of the season. Last week, they escaped a huge scare against the Raiders after leading by 12 with a few minutes remaining when Canberra came back to send the game into golden point. Enter "King" Gutho who nailed the winning field goal in extra time to give the Eels a huge 2 points. They still sit atop the ladder and will be expected to handle the Cowboys. But the big news out of last week's win was the injury to halfback Mitchell Moses. So Jai Field will get his chance in the #7 jersey. While on the bench, David Gower comes in for Alvaro.
What a difference a week makes in the NRL. After an insipid first-half display against the Tigers (down 34-0), the Cowboys turned the tables against the Knights on the weekend with a 26-0 first-half performance. So who knows which Cowboys side is going to turn up on Friday, but hopefully it's last week's team! There could be good news in team selections with Valentine Holmes a 50/50 chance of playing on Friday.
The Cowboys do have a good record against the Eels as they've won the 4 of the last 5 meetings. But at the moment, games involving the Cowboys have been massively high scoring and as a result, we have to like the Over. For example, their last 3 games have easily cleared 50 total points. Despite missing Moses, the Eels have plenty of other playmakers that can take advantage of the Cowboys mediocre edge defence.
Over 40.5 Total Points
$1.88
