A clash with huge top 8 ramifications is the meat in the Super Saturday sandwich, as the 10th placed Sea Eagles take on the 9th placed Cowboys. With Origin in the rear-view mirror, the final 8 rounds of the season looks like it will produce a tremendous race for the top 8, and these kinds of matches are huge. With 7 players (2 Sea Eagles, 5 Cowboys) aiming to back up from Origin, let’s dive in and find some value.
Also, make sure to head over to our NRL Tips page regularly for more previews and best bets for NRL round 20!
NRL Round 20 Preview & Betting Tips
Manly Sea Eagles vs North Queensland Cowboys
4 Pines Park, Saturday 15th July, 5:30pm (AEST)
Manly are off the bye, and sweating the inclusion of Daly Cherry-Evans and Jake Trbojevic from Origin, whom I believe will both play. In the Sea Eagles last game, a round 18 home win over the Roosters, the Sea Eagles were assisted by poor discipline from the Roosters. They won 18-16, in a matchup that could have gone either way. Their attack looks far less dangerous without Tom Trbojevic, and they’ll need to look much better this week against one of the form teams of the competition.
Speaking of the Cowboys, they are also off a bye, with their last up start a massive 74-0 victory over the Tigers. Not too much needs to be said about the win, other than the Tigers were horrible, and the Cowboys made them pay. They’ve now won 4 in a row, and are knocking on the door of the top 8.
With the team lists not yet finalised, unsurprisingly the opening numbers in this game haven’t changed, with the Cowboys still 3.5-point favourites, and the total sitting at 42.5. This number appears to me short, and definitely has the Cowboys resting State of Origin player/s baked into the number. However, given the magnitude of this game, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cowboys all backed up, and with the game being played in Sydney, it saves on some travel for the players.
As for the total, I have a fair for this game at 45 points, however with the possibility of players missing, points could be at a premium. Would lean over, however without final team lists I can’t make a play.
Given the uptick in form from the Cowboys, it’s been hard to adjust their power rating properly over the past month. How much of their form is their opposition, and how much is it that things have finally clicked? I’m happy to keep pushing their rating higher for now, as they are still below their pre-season rating, so I believe at their best they still have room to move up. If there was no Origin to be factored into this game, I’d be all over the Cowboys, however with the chances at resting, I’ll keep the stakes low for the final week this season. Get on now, before this number gets out past 4.
Cowboys -3.5
$1.90 (1.5 Units)
Same Game Multi
Popular bookmaker Picklebet have launched their Same Game Multis for both the AFL and NRL. There are plenty of markets to choose from an excellent odds on offer, so make sure to check them out!
Cowboys to Win – See above for our reasoning.
Over 38.5 Points – Also see above, taking a few points off the total to chock the overall payout of the multi up.
S. Drinkwater (1+ Try) – 5 tries in his past 3 games, Drinkwater is one of the form players of the competition right now. Will be heavily involved in anything the Cowboys do in attack.
S. Valemei (1+ Try) – The Sea Eagles concede almost half their tries down their left edge. With Valemei on the right wing running off Peta Hiku, he should have a great chance to score at least one.
