Super Saturday in Round 9 features three intriguing matchups. The Sharks and Panthers should be a cracking contest between two in-form sides. Who knows what the Broncos will dish up against the Bulldogs. Then the Raiders and Storm reignite their modern day rivalry in Canberra.
NRL Round 9 Saturday Betting Tips
Sharks vs Panthers
(Sat, Jul 11 3:00pm)
Cronulla’s resurgence continued last Saturday as they scored 40 points in back to back games with a thrashing of the Titans. The Sharkies 3 game winning streak has them sitting 6th on the ladder and this matchup with the 2nd placed Panthers will be a good guide of their premiership credentials. In team selections, Matt Moylan’s dodgy hamstrings continue to hamper him and he’ll be out for a few weeks. So Josh Dugan has been named in the #1 jersey and Goodwin moves to the centres.
The Panthers just continue to win the close games after outlasting the Tigers last week in the 19-12 win. They sit outright 2nd on the ladder with 6 wins / 1 draw / 1 loss and with upcoming games in Penrith, they’re in a great position to finish top 4. Last week’s win wasn’t all good news as winger Brian To’o suffered a knee injury and that’ll see Brent Naden take his position on the wing.
Saturday afternoon games are proving to be high scoring and we’ll be sticking with the trend here. It also helps that 4 of the last 5 meetings between these two sides has beaten 40 total points.
Over 40.5 Total Points
$1.90
Broncos vs Bulldogs
(Sat, Jul 11 5:30pm)
What can we say about the Broncos at the moment? Well, they lost 26-16 against the reeling Warriors last week and dropped their 6th straight game as a result. So if they can’t beat the Bulldogs this weekend, we can likely put a line through them for the 2020 season. In an interesting move, the under-fire Anthony Seibold will stick with the same 17 as last week but with a few structural changes. Oates is back in the second row and Flegler will start on the bench. Pangai Junior will also start at prop.
While the Bulldogs sit dead last on the ladder after just 1 win this season, at least they’ve shown more spirit compared to the Broncos. Last week’s loss to South Sydney was another gallant effort by the Bulldogs as they troubled the Rabbitohs for stages of the 80 minutes. But in a big injury blow, Adam Elliot will likely miss the season with a dislocated shoulder. However, that opens the door for English recruit Luke Thompson to make his NRL debut.
Sure, the Broncos are at home this week but there’s no way you can back them in. They were awful against the Titans at Suncorp a few weeks ago and the Bulldogs have won 2 of the last 3 meetings as well. Take the Dogs at the underdog line here as it wouldn’t surprise us if they beat the struggling Broncos.
Raiders vs Storm
(Sat, Jul 11 7:35pm)
The Raiders are back on the winners’ list but once again, it wasn’t easy to watch. After taking an 18-0 lead to half-time and they were up 22-0, the Dragons scored 3 tries in the last 20 minutes to almost steal a victory. But ultimately, the Raiders held on for an important 22-16 victory. Missed tackles and error continue to hurt the Raiders, as well as a growing injury list. Soliola and Guler are both out with injury in the forward pack. Curtis Scott has also been dropped and will miss the clash with his former side. Jordan Rapana returns on the bench for Scott.
It was arguably one of the greatest finishes to an NRL regular season last Thursday as the Storm upset the Roosters 27-25. Ryan Papenhuyzen sent the game into golden point with a brilliant field goal as time basically expired. Then, Cameron Smith kicked a penalty goal in golden point to seal a famous victory for Melbourne. It was even more impressive considering they were missing Cameron Munster. He’s named in the reserves this week but we’d say the Storm won’t risk him in a regular season game. Cam Smith played 5/8th for most of last week’s clash but Ryley Jacks has been named in the #6 jersey. However, Bellamy is known for making late team changes and that’ll be something to monitor before kick-off.
The Storm will be looking for revenge over the Raiders as the Green Machine has won the last 3 meetings, including the 22-6 result in Melbourne in Round 3. But we feel like this will be a really close battle for the 80 minutes as both sides pride themselves on defence. So we like the changes of either team winning by under 10.5, which has occured in 2 of the last 3 meetings.
Either Team by 10 or Less
$1.72
