NRL Betting Preview: Back Melbourne Storm to see off Newcastle Knights by 11-20 points
Recommended bet: Winning Margin – Melbourne Storm to win by 11-20 points @ 11/4 (3.75) with Sportsbet
Bottom of the table Newcastle Knights play host to Minor Premiers elect Melbourne Storm at the McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday afternoon, with only a series of highly improbable results now capable of stopping the Storm.
The prospect of the Knights beating the Storm remains fairly improbable, although not as much as it would have done a few weeks ago. That’s because the Knights are now on an excellent three-match winning streak, culminating in what was probably the shock result of the Premiership campaign to date when they won 29-10 away to the in-form Parramatta Eels at the ANZ Stadium last Friday for their first win on the road since 2015.
The Storm stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to six points with a 16-13 victory over their closest challengers, the Sydney Roosters, last weekend. They had to dig deep at AAMI Park, but it’s that ability that helps make them top dogs. They have won four on the spin, during which they have restricted the opposition to 14 points or fewer on each occasion.
These two teams last met in Game week 13 back in early June, with the Storm running out convincing 40-12 winners at AAMI Park, with Billy Slater and Suliasi Vunivalu both going over for two tries apiece.
With the Minor Premiership all but in the bag, the Storm could rest their stars over the remaining three rounds of the regular season with the finals series in mind.
In terms of team news, the Storm five-eighth Cameron Munster is set to return after missing the last two games, while Tohu Harris has been listed on an extended bench. The Knights name unchanged line-up with Mickey Paea, Chanel Mata’utia and Brendan Elliott in the reserves.
Nobody will be surprised to see the Storm at very short odds of around 1/5 (1.20) to win this match and, particularly given the Knights recent form, they are unlikely to show any complacency.
That being the case, but the Storm to get home by a Winning Margin of 11-20 points at 11/4 (3.75) with Sportsbet could give us a decent run for our money.
