NRL Round 18 Tips & Preview

NRL Round 18 Tips & Preview

There are just three weeks remaining in the NRL regular season and things are really starting to heat up.

Our beloved Wests Tigers will seek to keep alive their finals hopes when they take on South Sydney on Thursday night, before the standout clash of the round takes place between the Panthers and the Eels on Friday night.

I’ve run the rule over all eight games, and you can find a preview of each along with my NRL Round 18 tips below.

Wests Tigers vs South Sydney Rabbitohs
Souths (-7.5)

We here at Neds obviously love Wests Tigers and above anything this weekend, we’d love to see them keep their finals hopes alive by beating the Rabbitohs.

They looked to be down and out for the count against the Sea Eagles last week, but three tries within the space of eight minutes saw them back into the contest, and ultimately win.

There is no doubt that this is another step up in class for them, but they are sure to have taken plenty of confidence from the win.

Souths’ huge win over the Eels in Round 16 was franked with another quality performance, albeit a four-point loss to the Storm.

Cody Walker has really started to hit his straps and for mine, they are looking like being the fourth team that makes the qualifying finals more and more each week.

I think that Wests will produce a typically spirited performance, but it’s almost impossible to look past the Bunnies at current.

Canterbury Bulldogs vs Manly Sea Eagles
Sea Eagles (-6.5)

It certainly won’t be the match of the season, but an intriguing contest between the Dogs and the Sea Eagles looms first-up on Friday.

It was another tough performance from the Bulldogs in Round 17 and while they weren’t able to get the chocolates against the might and power of the Neds Titans, they produced plenty of good passages of footy.

They’ll take quiet confidence into this game, and there is certainly a case to be made for them winning.

With extremely bright prospects at the beginning of the season, it’s now evident that the Sea Eagles are no chance of playing finals footy.

For a side with plenty of high-quality players, it is worrying that they go to water almost completely without a fit Turbo, and finding better contingencies is surely job number one for Dessie in the offseason.

I can’t have them as $1.40 favourites, and I almost can’t have them at a 6.5-point line. Last chance.

Penrith Panthers vs Parramatta Eels
Panthers (-7.5)

Friday night’s primetime slot will live up to its billing this week as the competition-leading Panthers host the Eels.

It has been virtually impossible to fault the Panthers in 2020.

That being said, they were certainly a little flat in last Thursday’s clash with the lowly Broncos, though that side did return a vastly improved effort on the low standard they’ve maintained all year.

Regardless, a win is a win and it’s onwards and upwards towards another likely W.

The Eels could be the biggest myth in Australian sport at the moment.

The huge loss to South to one side, they were very, very lucky to sneak home over the Warriors in Round 17, and they’d need to go to another level to take anything from this.

I think that the first 60 minutes of this match will be the best of Round 18, but the Panthers will score plenty of unanswered points late.

St George Illawarra Dragons vs Canberra Raiders
Favourites 6 Pack

The Dragons will host the Raiders in the first of three Saturday games in Round 18.

What has happened to the Dragons throughout the last few weeks?

I hate to say it, but they’ve actually been noticeably worse since Mary McGregor was given his marching orders, and they are another club who are also now out of finals contention.

This week’s news that Anthony Griffin will take the head coaching job next season is enormous for the club, and the playing roster should be buoyed.

Clearly, the Dragons have been desperate for a ‘home grown talent’ to find success in the coaching ranks, but it just hasn’t worked, and it is terrific that they have finally seen the light.

The Raiders were unable to account for the Roosters in last weekend’s Grand Final rematch, but they’ve been playing some good footy of late, and they deserve their clear favouritism ahead of this one.

I don’t really know why, but I can’t completely rule out the Dragons, so I’m going to stay away from head to head and line betting this week.

Gold Coast Titans vs Brisbane Broncos
Titans (-3.5)

A Queensland Derby will take place on the Coast on Saturday evening, and another terrific opportunity to win faces the Neds Titans.

Each week has been exciting for the Titans’ faithful, certainly in the second half of the season and I know I’ve said it several times, but boy 2021’s prospects are exciting.

Round 17 heralded a tough win over the Bulldogs; their second in succession and sixth overall, and it really is a shame that they can’t quite sneak into the finals.

The Broncos actually returned one of their better performances of the season against the Panthers last weekend, and in what has easily been the most tumultuous campaign of their existence, they can certainly take plenty from their effort.

Kotoni Staggs will surely join Payne Haas in the Blues side come season’s end, and he will be the key to their chances again this weekend.

Sydney Roosters vs Newcastle Knights
Knights (+17.5)

Betting suggests that one of the more one-sided games of the week will come up between two top eight sides, when the Roosters and Knights do battle on Saturday night.

The Roosters have suffered plenty of key injuries this season and they haven’t been quite as potent as they were in 2019, but it continues to be the case that their bottom line still better than the top line of many other clubs.

They are really beginning to hit form at the right point of the season again and above everything, they are far more trustworthy in betting than the Knights.

Newcastle bounced back from a truly putrid performance and loss to the Warriors with a comfortable win over the Sharks in Round 17.

While there were plenty of things to like about the performance, the Sharks happen to be the other side in the top eight that are completely untrustworthy, and it’s hard to know what we’ll get this week.

I think that the 17.5-point line is a little steep, so I am going to give the Knights a chance of finishing within it.

Melbourne Storm vs North Queensland Cowboys
Storm (-18.5)

The week’s obvious mismatch will take place on Sunday, when the Storm take on the Cowboys on the Sunshine Coast.

The Storm just know how to win.

Even when they weren’t good this year, they still were, and they are almost fully fit as we head into the last couple of weeks of the regular season.

The Cowboys snapped a nine-game losing streak in Round 17, and you can tell that it meant everything to their long-suffering players and staff.

Alas, it was a single-point win over the Dragons, and they would surely need to produce something incredible to even stay in the contest with the Storm for the full eighty.

Cronulla Sharks vs New Zealand Warriors
Warriors to Win ($2.60)

Round 18 will conclude with another interesting match between Cronulla and New Zealand.

The Sharks will more than likely play finals footy, but I think that even Paul Gallen would admit that they are only there to make up the numbers this year.

They have recorded some lovely wins, but remain one of, if not the most inconsistent side in the entire league, and they enter this game off the back of one of their worst performances of the year.

The Warriors meanwhile were unlucky not to beat the Eels in Round 17, and they have been playing some really attractive (and promising) footy recently.

As $2.60 outsiders, I am happy to be with them again this week.