NRL Betting Preview: Back Canberra Raiders to beat weakened Sydney Roosters by 1 – 10 points
Recommended bet: Canberra Raiders to win by 1 – 10 points @ 5/2 (3.50) with bet365
Canberra Raiders and Sydney Roosters do battle at the GIO Stadium on Sunday afternoon, with the Raiders (currently 4th in the standings with an 8-3 record) knowing that a win would take them level at the top of the NRL Telstra Premiership table.
Canberra moved into the Top 8 in the table (with a 5–6 record) after a return to winning ways with a 22-16 victory at Parramatta Eels last time out, ending a worrying run of three straight defeats. That poor sequence of results even included an embarrassing 34-20 loss at bottom of the table Newcastle Knights.
The Sydney Roosters are in decent form themselves, having won four of their last five, with the one defeat being by a solitary one-point margin (14–13) at New Zealand Warriors.
The deciding factor in this game could well be the impact of the Origin series, with call-ups hitting the Roosters particularly hard. They make the trip to the capital without Blake Ferguson, Mitchell Pearce, Boyd Cordner, Dylan Napa and Aidan Guerra, while the Raiders only Origin representative absentee is Josh Papalii.
The Raiders edged out the Roosters 21-20 in Canberra the last time the teams met in the Premiership back in March 2016, but it was the Roosters who won each of the previous three encounters. Matches between the Raiders and the Roosters also have a tendency to be high-scoring, with the last six all featuring 38 points or more.
Backing Over 42.5 points in the game at 10/11 (1.91) with Sportsbet is certainly worthy of consideration, but the Roosters have only conceded more than 18 points in a game twice in 11 matches this season. That’s probably enough reason to steer clear of that particular market.
This would be a tough game to call in normal circumstances, but the team news from a Roosters perspective makes the Canberra Raiders firm favorites to win this one and backing them to emerge victorious by a margin of 1 – 10 points at 5/2 (3.50) with bet365 looks a pretty decent value punt under the circumstances.
