NRL Betting: Bet Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs to cover 8 point Handicap against Newcastle Knights
Recommended bet: Handicap – Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs -8 points @ 1/1 (2.00) with bet365
Sunday sees 14th placed Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs hosting bottom of the table Newcastle Knights at the Belmore Sports Ground, with the Bulldogs knowing that it’s pretty much now or never as far as making a late charge for a top eight finish is concerned.
Now six points adrift of a play-off spot after suffering a ‘golden point’ 13-12 loss to the Parramatta Eels last Thursday, the Bulldogs prospects of a place in the Elimination finals are starting to look increasingly slim.
As for the Knights, they missed out on the chance to move off the foot of the table when going down to a 33-12 defeat to the Wests Tigers, in a game which coach Nathan Brown labelled as their worst performance of the year.
With regards to team news, the Bulldogs have lost Brett Morris, Josh Jackson and David Klemmer to Origin duty, so Kerrod Holland comes in on the wing, while Raymond Faitala-Mariner and Sam Kasiano will start in the pack. In addition, Asipeli Fine and Andy Saunders join coach Des Hasler’s bench.
From the Knights perspective, Ken Sio out and Dane Gagai are in camp with Queensland at Origin, so Chanel Mata’utia and Brendan Elliot are named on the wings. Elsewhere former Bulldog Trent Hodkinson maintains his spot in the halves ahead of Brock Lamb, while Luke Yates replaces Josh Starling on the bench.
Canterbury’s problems this season have largely been around an inability to score points, with their 220 to date being the lowest in the Premiership this term by some distance and coming at an average of below 14 per game.
The Bulldogs are currently in the driving seat in the head-to-heads, having won the last four meetings between the two teams and not having lost since 2013.
This is a must-win game for the Bulldogs and it looks like one in which they should come through unscathed. They do possess a superior forward pack and look to have the greater quality throughout.
Backing them to win on the Handicap whilst giving Newcastle an 8 point start looks a decent shout at 1/1 (2.00) with bet365.
