While the Bulldogs and Sea Eagles are quickly hoping for the season to end, one team will finally end a 6 game losing streak on Friday. Meanwhile, the highlight of Friday night footy and Round 18 will be the battle of the west in Penrith as the 1st placed Panthers tackle the Eels.
NRL Round 18 Friday Betting Tips
Bulldogs vs Sea Eagles
Fri, Sep 11 6:00pm
Another close loss for the Bulldogs on the weekend as they went down to the Titans 18-14. So their quest to get off the bottom of the ladder is getting tougher by the week. Especially with more injury issues. The luckless Kieran Foran is out for the season and his career at the Dogs is likely over. Napa has a knee injury along with Montoya and Holland coming out of the side. Interestingly, Jake Averillo will play 5/8th, Smith returns in the centres, Okunbor will play on the wing and Tolman moves back to prop.
Manly's 6th straight defeat was compounded by a shocking collapse against the Tigers last week. After leading 20-6 in the first half, the Sea Eagles conceded 3 tries in the last 8 minutes as their edge defence had no answers for the likes of Nofoaluma and Doueihi. Similarly to the Dogs, the injury bug continues at Manly. Schuster is out for the season after an impressive performance last week. Taupau is also gone for the season. So Cade Cust gets a recall and Miski will lineup on the wing.
Both sides are ridding 6 game losing streaks so the rivalry between these two sides is the only reason to watch these battling teams. Overall, we don't mind a Bulldogs upset if they can win the field position battle. But with so many team changes, it's truly a tough game to bet on.
No Bet
Panthers vs Eels
Fri, Sep 11 7:55pm
Penrith weren't at their best last week against the lowly Broncos but they likely had an eye on this Friday night battle with the Eels. The positive out of last week's win was the return of Capewell from injury and the Panthers out-gained by the Broncos by over 800 run metres. But they would like to fix up their error count after making 10. However, with arguably the best injury list in the competition, the Panthers now get Isaah Yeo back from injury in more good news for the top of the table team. So Fisher-Harris will move to the front row and Leota shifts back to the bench.
Parramatta got the job done against the Warriors 24-18 last week but it wasn't overly convincing. Despite controlling 55% of possession, the Eels were pretty slopping with the ball after 10 errors and obviously do miss the talented Dylan Brown in the halves. Reed Mahoney also picked up a shoulder issue in the victory and he could be a late-out before kickoff. Otherwise, Niukore being dropped is the only change for the Eels at the moment.
It's been a while but the Eels were actually the last team to beat the Panthers in Round 5, 16-10 at Bankwest. Despite the Eels being fairly out of form at the moment, the battle of the West is a game they usually stand up in, no matter how bad they're playing. So we do like the chances of a close affair for the 80 minutes. The last 2 meetings have been decided by 6 points and all of the last 5 clashes have been decided by 10 or less.
Either Team by 10 or Less
$1.91
