Another classic early Friday clash will see the struggling Canberra Raiders (2-6) take on 15th placed Canterbury Bulldogs (2-6), fresh off a last start win over the Sydney Roosters. Both sides appear destined for a bottom 8 finish, and both Coaches are on the hot seat. And whilst desperation levels have decreased slightly for the Bulldogs with last week’s victory, the Raiders’ desperation has reached fever pitch, with a loss here surely putting coach Ricky Stuart and several players within a bee’s appendage of getting the sack. Whilst not the most exciting game on offer in Round 9, there is some value to be found, so let’s make a bet or two to give us something to look forward to for this one.
As always, stay tuned throughout the 2022 NRL season to get the best betting value when taking on the bookies, with our NRL Tips page previewing all the NRL matches in 2022.
Canberra Raiders vs Canterbury Bulldogs
GIO Stadium, Friday 6th May, 6:00pm (AEST)
Squads
Canberra Raiders
1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Nick Cotric 3. Jarrod Croker 4. Matthew Timoko 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Matt Frawley 7. Brad Schneider 8. Josh Papalii 9. Adam Elliott 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Ryan Sutton. INTERCHANGE: 14. Tom Starling 15. Corey Harawira-Naera 16. Sebastian Kris 17. Corey Horsburgh. RESERVES: 18. Harry Rushton 19. Emre Guler 20. Xavier Savage 21. Trey Mooney 22. Sam Williams 23. James Schiller 24. Peter Hola
Canterbury Bulldogs
1. Matt Dufty 2. Brent Naden 3. Aaron Schoupp 4. Jake Averillo 5. Josh Addo-Carr 6. Matt Burton 7. Kyle Flanagan 8. Luke Thompson 9. Jeremy Marshall-King 10. Paul Vaughan 11. Corey Waddell 12. Tevita Pangai Junior 13. Josh Jackson. INTERCHANGE: 14. Bailey Biondi-Odo 15. Joe Stimson 16. Max King 17. Ava Seumanufagai. RESERVES: 19. Josh Cook 20. Jackson Topine 21. Brandon Wakeham 22. Reece Hoffman 23. Jayden Okunbor 24. Paul Alamoti 25. Chris Patolo
Match Preview
After a promising start to the season where they beat both the Sharks and Titans at GIO Stadium, the Raiders sunk to their 5th straight loss last week in Golden Point to the Warriors. Second halves have continued to be a massive problem, with their for and against for second halves sitting at 38 points scored and 99 points conceded. Considering they scored 24 second half points against the Titans, that’s a crazy statistic. Unbelievably, Ricky Stuart has escaped the criticisms levelled at other Head Coaches, despite the fact second half performance correlates strongly with head coaching. A loss here, in my opinion, should see the end of Ricky Stuart as Head Coach of the Canberra Raiders.
The Bulldogs have continued their struggles this season, particularly when attacking inside the opponents 20. The addition of Kyle Flannagan has seen their average points per game go from 7 points per game, to 18 points per game. I don’t necessarily believe the attack has improved, as much as I just believe variance has been on their side. I still don’t trust the Bulldogs attack, however they still have enough points in them to outperform this Raiders outfit, if once again it doesn’t manage an 80-minute performance.
The loss of Jack Wighton seems like it would matter, and the market seems to agree, with the line shifting from 2.5 to 1.5 on the back of the Wighton suspension news. However, I’m more interested in the line move based off the Bulldogs last start win. Prior to the Bulldogs win last week, the look ahead line was Raiders -5.5. The move to open -2.5 seems like too big a jump to me. The Bulldogs were up for the game against the Roosters, after receiving a huge dressing down by Phil Gould, and this seems like a real let down spot to me. Away teams seem to really struggle in the early Friday game, and GIO Stadium at this time of year is not an easy place to get motivated.
I like the Raiders to get their 3rd win of the season here and go to 3-1 at GIO Stadium. I also like the trend of early Friday night game unders to continue.
Prop Bets:
Under 39.5 ($1.90 at Palmerbet)
Bulldogs Under 18.5 ($1.88 at Ladbrokes)
Canberra Raiders H2H
$1.90 (2.5 Units)
