NRL Round 2 Preview

After a fascinating Opening Round of NRL Action, we move into Round 2 with some blockbuster games.

With 7 of the 8 games featuring lines in single digits we are expecting the action on the field to be highly competitive.

 

Clash of the Round

The Clash of the round would appear to be the Brisbane Broncos v the North Queensland Cowboys.

These two teams have played some epic encounters over the past 10 years, with the 2015 Grand Final the most memorable. The vision of Jonathan Thurstan hitting the left upright to win the final sticks with a lot of league fans, as well as the unfortunate drop from Ben Hunt in golden point.

Both sides come into this clash off an opening round victory, where the Broncos start slight favourites ($1.77) and the Cowboys ($2.05) with a handicap of -2.0

Both matches went ‘unders’ in the opening round, and we have already seen support for the Under 40.5 in this encounter, with punters also keen to support Herbie Farnworth ($2.81) and Scott Drinkwater ($2.75) in the anytime try scorer market after both players crossed for Doubles in Round 1.

Biggest Team to Watch

After the unbelievable victory by the Dolphins in round one, where they scored a surprise upset over the Roosters, they attempt to back this performance up when they take on Canberra at their home stadium in Redcliffe for the first time in their history.

The Dolphins have been backed from $2.60 into $2.45 and the line has moved from 6.0 into 4.5 as punters continue to support the giant killers.

The Raiders on the other hand will be disappointed to fall short after a gutsy comeback against the Cowboys away from home last week.

Jamayne Isaako is attracting plenty of interest by the punters to score a try at $2.22 after his impressive debut performance in Round 1

Team that needs to improve

The Panthers have suffered back to back defeats to start the season (including their loss to St Helens in the World Club Challenge). The reigning champions will be concerned going into the round 2 clash again fellow heavy weights the South Sydney Rabbitohs. The Panthers appear to be missing two of their stars who left the foot of the mountain in the off season, Viliame Kikau and Api Koroisau – however they do start favourites on Thursday night ($1.55) and giving a 4.0 start on the handicap betting.

Premiership Update

The Panthers are still the outright favourites at $4.40 after their first up loss.

The biggest firmers from the weekend are

South Sydney $9 into $6.50

Brisbane $21 into $12

Manly $21 into $16

**Odds quoted are accurate at the time of writing but are subject to change.