Raiders v Sharks (Saturday, 7:50pm AEST)
The minor premiers ended up on the wrong end of one of the most exciting finals fixtures of all time and had already celebrated booking a home preliminary twice before Michael Maguire’s men pulled the rug out from underneath them.
Raiders fans have suffered from stressful finishes on multiple occasions this year, including in Round 5 this year when the Raiders were down 20-18 heading into the 79th minute and had to run the ball from 55 metres on the last tackle only for Seb Kris to be on the end of a string of passes and score the match winner.
Canberra have played out ten matches this year to be decided by a 1-6 point margin, amongst the most of any team this year, and their meeting with Cronulla in early April was the first of eight that they won under such circumstances.
Still, the Sharks must be going into this game with soaring confidence after winning eight of their last nine games, even if Sydney (x2) and Canterbury (x1) were the only finalists they beat in that period.
Now that they have an even better defence than Canberra and are going for just 20 points per game, it would be silly to discount them, and we’re forecasting an epic here. Find the tri-bet market on your favourite NRL betting app, or head to Unibet for the best price at 2.95.
KL Iro is yet to find the line since returning from injury but was on a nine game try scoring streak prior to that so he can’t be far away, nor Savelio Tamale with five of the Sharks’ last six away games seeing them concede a try to the opposition’s starting right winger.
Match prediction: Either team by 1-6 points
Player prediction: KL Iro to score a try
Suggested multi: Savelio Tamale & KL Iro to score tries
Bulldogs v Panthers (Sunday, 4:05pm AEST)
This match could be a classic case of one team peaking at the perfect time and the other too early.
Canterbury held premiership favouritism throughout the first half of the season after winning nine of their ten matches, compared with their opponents who are hoping to become the first team in league history to win the flag from the unenviable position of a 1-5 start to the season.
The Dogs have been beset by injuries in recent weeks and lost Enari Tuala and captain Stephen Crichton remains doubtful even despite being named in the reserves on Tuesday.
Their only win from their last five games was a cruisy 28-4 victory against what was effectively Penrith’s NSW Cup side and therefore cannot come into consideration when forecasting this result, whilst the meagre 50 points they accumulated in their four losses surrounding that is of concern.
This Panthers side are the finals kings as they illustrated last week with a 13th consecutive finals victory, the majority of which they also covered the line in. They should do so again this week despite what we expect to be a low total given these sides are one and two for defence this year, with 16 of the Panthers’ 25 games this season finishing under.
Penrith’s Casey McLean has been a money maker for anytime try scorer players, having found the line in seven of his last eight games. The best value amongst NRL bookmakers appears to come from Ladbrokes this time around.
Match prediction: Penrith -9.5 points
Player prediction: Casey McLean to score a try
Suggested multi: Penrith -9.5 / Under 39.5 points
