NRL Betting: New Zealand Warriors capable of beating Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs by 7+ points
Recommended bet: Winning Margin – New Zealand Warriors 7+ @ 21/20 (2.05) with William Hill
New Zealand Warriors play host to Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at the Mount Smart Stadium on Friday and with both teams currently sitting just outside the play-off places, there’ s plenty riding on the outcome.
With both teams locked together on 12 points going into this clash, they find themselves four points shy of the top eight, meaning that whoever loses this will find it a big ask to secure a playoff spot.
Coach Des Hasler’s Bulldogs could be without the New South Wales Blues trio of Josh Jackson, David Klemmer and Brett Morris, as they are expected to back up for Canterbury less than 48 hours after State of Origin II on Wednesday night. It’s a very short recovery time, particularly after the excesses of an Origin game and a three-hour flight to Auckland.
That doesn’t potentially bode well for a Bulldogs team that are currently the lowest scorers in the Premiership this season, with their 194 points to date coming at a rate of just under 14 per game.
The Bulldogs ended a four match losing streak with a 16-2 win over St. George Illawarra Dragons last time out, whilst the Warriors had a conclusive 34-12 win at Gold Coast Titans in their last game.
The recent head-to-head record strongly favours the Bulldogs, who have won six of the last seven meetings between the two teams. The last victory came in Game week 3 back in mid-March, with the Bulldogs running out 24-12 winners.
Recent games between these two have usually been fairly close encounters and there’s little reason to suggest that this one will be any different. Home advantage and the aforementioned impact of the Origin series on the Bulldogs suggest a Warriors win is the most likely outcome here, but best odds of around 1/2 (1.50) on a Warriors victory (available generally) hold little appeal given their own lack of consistency this season.
A better option could be to back the Warriors to secure victory by a margin of 7 points +, which is available at 21/20 (2.05) with William Hill.
