Just the single Sunday afternoon fixture this weekend in NRL Round 19, with a replay of the 1997 ARL Grand Final between the Sea Eagles and Knights. With both teams firmly in the race for a spot in this year’s finals series, expect a tight contest between these two old foes. We bring you our full betting preview for the clash here!
2024 NRL Round 19 Preview & Betting Tips
Manly Sea Eagles vs Newcastle Knights
4 Pines Park, Sunday 14th July, 4:05pm (AEST)
Last Week
The Sea Eagles headed north last Saturday to take on the Cowboys, coming away with a 21-20 Golden Point victory. It was a huge win for Manly, with the Cowboys another of the teams battling it out for the bottom half of the top 8. The Sea Eagles really shored things up in the middle of the park, missing just 21 tackles against a very good attacking team. Daly Cherry-Evans was at his scheming best throughout, creating a try whilst also notching four line-break assists, to go with the Golden Point field goal to win his team the game. He will be a big loss this weekend.
As for the Knights, they snuck past the Raiders last Sunday at GIO Stadium, winning 16-12 in a game that could have gone either way. Kalyn Ponga looked solid in his return performance, running for 265 metres and breaking 9 tackles. Dane Gagai was superb, earning an Origin recall after scoring two tries, busting 10 tackles, and running for 213 metres. It was a good all-round display by the Knights, who look like a team that could go on a run to end the season.
Match Preview
The Knights and Sea Eagles met twice last year, with the Knights getting the win in the most recent clash at McDonald Jones Stadium in round 13, 28-18. The Knights closed 10.5-point favourites, in a game both teams were missing Origin players. The teams split the points in their round 5 matchup in Mudgee, with the 32-all result coming after the Sea Eagles closed massive 13.5-point favourites.
As for this matchup, the Sea Eagles opened 0.5-point favourites prior to last weekend’s results, before the Sea Eagles re-opened as 6.5-point favourites. Manly have continued as the team favoured by punters, with the number now Sea Eagles -7.5 heavily juiced, suggesting the number will close 8.5 or more. The triple Origin selection for the Knights explains this massive shift in the market.
Both teams are affected by Origin, with the Knights (Ponga, Best, Gagai) and Sea Eagles (DCE, Jake Trbojevic) missing a boatload of experience. With so many elite players missing, it’s very difficult to handicap the matchup, and as such it’s a game to keep your powder dry.
The total opened 49.5 and remains 49.5. Much like last weekend with the Knights and Raiders matchup, I like the under here, and make a fair total well below this total (41.5). With both teams missing strike weapons across the park, and the Knights generally leaning heavily on their defence to stay in games, the under is the play here, however with so many unknowns we keep the staking low, before pushing up on some bigger bets on the run home.
Under 49.5 total points
$1.99 (1 Unit)
