NRL - Round 5

[Lahrio]

Wests Tigers vs South Sydney - Over 46pts @ 1.90 (Sportsbet) So far Souths have gone over in all of their matches this year. I think their defence is poor this season particularly towards the end of matches, and a side like the Tigers will be sure to pounce on that. Ellis and Burgess are coming back for the Tigers and Souths respectively, and they will both add a new dimension to the attacks of both teams. Ellis is one of the most under-rated players in the game at the moment in my opinion, and if he can make his come back a good one, the lines he runs will be sure to worry the big units up the middle for Souths. Cowboys -3.5 @ 1.77 (Sportsbet) The Cowboys have been playing well this year, but the same can't be said about the Titans. They looked good in the second half last week against the Raiders, but as much as I hate to say it, the Raiders were particularly poor with their line speed, and were gifting Titans forwards 10m a tackle. Still, despite this, Raiders should have won the game by 6 points if it weren't for a comedic (if it weren't so heart-braking for me!) error from Orford with 40 seconds left. Thurston is back to his best and if his forwards can work hard, he will have plenty of space to distribute the ball to the excellent back line at his disposal. If things couldn't get worse for the Titans, Greg Bird (their best player against the Raiders) is missing a week due to suspension, while Harrison and Campbell are still out injured and Prince is still in some doubt. Can't see past a Cowboys win here.

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Rabbitohs -6.5 @ 2.19 centrebet West have too many injury problems here, and it showed last week against the Roosters, though they were valiant, hard to see them be able to withstand the Rabbitohs here, as they welcome back Burgess to the lineup while Wesser slips back into the fullback spot. The Rabbitohs have a big pack of forwards who will be hitting the line, with Burgess, Asotasi and Taylor pounding the line. They have won 3 of the last meetings, and look good here to make it three in a row as the Tigers look toothless in the backline with only Marshall a real concern, while they look inferior to the Rabbitohs pack due to these injuries.

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Rabbitohs -6.5 @ 2.19 :@ Shocking performance by the bunnies

[Lahrio]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Wests Tigers vs South Sydney - Over 46pts @ 1.90 :( Cowboys -3.5 @ 1.77 :clap Thought Souths might score a few more than 6 points. :(

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Roosters -5.5 @ 2.07 centrebet Both teams are coming off good wins but the Roosters have been the far more consistent side of the two teams, and they do have the better defence. Like their halves of Carney and Pearce to do well here, while their forwards are bolstered by the return of Nuuusala and Ryles which should give the halves plenty of possession and good field position to make their darts for the line. Not convinced that the Warriors have turned the corner yet, and like the Roosters to be too good here. Panthers - Raiders over 45 @ 1.90 centrebet Two underperforming sides with plenty of pressure to turn it around. Both sides like to throw the ball around, and with two massive packs, the little guys should get some room to move in the second half as they tire. They have some key players out, but still believe they will move the ball around. These two teams fought out a very good semi game last year where the Panthers won 24-22, while down in Canberra, the Raiders won 30-26 late in the season, as these two teams tend to feature in high scoring games of late Cronulla @ 2.11 centrebet Sharks have been much better this season, playing with hunger and enthusiasm that was missing last season. They tend to play well at home on a Saturday night, and with the Sea Eagles without Watmough which is a big loss for them, like them to do enough to win this one, as Gallen, Tupou and Smith will enjoy the fact that there is no Watmough there.

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Roosters -5.5 @ 2.07 :( Panthers - Raiders over 45 @ 1.90 :) Cronulla @ 2.11 :@

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Storm -11.5 @ 2.03 centrebet Storm were impressive in beating the Bulldogs on Monday night, and they have another home game where they have won all 3 games so far this season. While it looked they may struggle this year with the need to remove so much of their team last season, they have been very good in overcoming this, and have played well. The Eels may have won last week, but still have question marks about their consistency, as they did enough to beat the Cowboys last start, but even then, they never really looked in control for much of the game. Like the Storm to do well again here Dragons -6.5 @ 2.04 centrebet Dragons continue to go about their business in a methodical way and they should do well here against their rivals the Bulldogs, who are coming off a poor performance against the Storm. The Storm opened them up quite easily and the Dragons have plenty of ability out wide with Gasnier and Cooper to do the same. Forward battle should be about pretty even, but in the backs, the linking up and knowing each other's game, tends to lead to the idea that this is where the Dragons have the edge, and use this to lead them to a win

[gurudave]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Melbourne Storm -10 $2.00 @ Sportingbet 10 Units Going against most people's belief at the start of the season, the Storm are most definitely genuine contenders for the Premiership this year and have seemingly not been upset by the loss of some of their best "over the cap" player. The core of the team is still there in Slater, Smith and Cronk and the quality of these players will be too much for the Eels. It will be interesting to see if there are any sin binnings after the altercations that happened last season between the two teams in particular Slater and Hayne. The Eels have been far too inconsistent over the first 4 rounds with a suprising first round win against the Warriors but since then it's been losses to Souths and Penrith....and scraping a 2 point win against the Cowboys. Melbourne too good here.

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Storm -11.5 @ 2.03 :) Dragons -6.5 @ 2.04 :) Two very good and comfortable wins. Need to be more like this more often

[gurudave]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Melbourne in a canter. 38 - 0. :clap

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Knights win by 1-12 margin @ 3.35 centrebet Knights werw valiant in defeat against the Dragons last week and face another tough test against the Broncos who have won 2 staright, beating the Raiders, Warriors and the Panthers. However neither of these 3 sides can be considered as good as the Dragons, and like this narrow loss to spur them on here. Not much separates the players on paper, and the halves should have a great match up here. The Knights have the wood over the Broncos winning the last 3 games so like them to do it again.

[blackcrow]

Re: NRL - Round 5 Knights win by 1-12 margin @ 3.35 :(