Eels vs Storm NRL Round 2 betting tips – 18/3/2021

Eels vs Storm betting preview

This is shaping up as one of the genuine Thursday night blockbusters for the 2021 NRL season. The Melbourne Storm showed against South Sydney that life after Cameron Smith will continue to be plentiful, while the Eels also showed a supreme level of confidence in coming back from a 16-0 deficit against Brisbane first up.

The Parramatta Eels in recent times haven’t been able to contain the Storm defensively when they have fielded their strongest team. In their last three games where the Storm have fielded a full-strength team, Parra have conceded an average of 44 points per game. In 2020 Melbourne only lost four games, and two of them were when they were resting key players, but they only scored an average of 10.5 points in those games they lost. Parramatta cannot afford a slow start for a second week in a row.

Key matchup: Cameron Munster vs Dylan Brown

Cameron Munster has run riot in his previous meetings with Parramatta, so the Eels right edge has an enormous job to do. Munster’s dominance has paved the way for the likes of Josh Addo-Carr to score freely down that side of the field, with ‘The Foxx’ notching five tries in his last four games against the Eels. If there isn’t a good plan Parramatta can execute on the edges to slow Munster down, the Storm will win comfortably.

Parramatta Eels betting info

Blake Ferguson went on record saying that he wanted to make up for his 2020 tryscoring drought by having a huge 2021, and he made a strong start by crossing the stripe in round one. It might be wise to wait another week and look towards Maika Sivo as a safer anytime tryscorer bet, as he has a less experienced three-quarter line opposite him in Reimis Smith and George Jennings.

Parramatta Eels

1. Clinton Gutherson
2. Maika Sivo
3. Tom Opacic
4. Waqa Blake
5. Blake Ferguson
6. Dylan Brown
7. Mitchell Moses
8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard
9. Reed Mahoney
10. Junior Paulo
11. Shaun Lane
12. Ryan Matterson
13. Nathan Brown
14. Oregon Kaufusi
15. Isaiah Papali’i
16. Keegan Hipgrave
17. Will Smith

Melbourne Storm betting info

Melbourne have had no issues in piling on the points against the Eels in their recent clashes, so it leaves a ton of options to go with when looking for some tryscorers. Cam Munster, Ryan Papenhuyzen and Josh Addo-Carr feel like obvious choices, but Brandon Smith might be a fun way to go. He is a handful close to the line, and with Harry Grant still out of the side, he is auditioning to 15 other clubs for 2022 and will go all-in to cross.

Melbourne Storm

1. Ryan Papenhuyzen
2. George Jennings
3. Reimis Smith
4. Justin Olam
5. Josh Addo-Carr
6. Cameron Munster
7. Jahrome Hughes
8. Jesse Bromwich
9. Brandon Smith
10. Christian Welch
11. Felise Kaufusi
12. Kenneath Bromwich
13. Nelson Asofa-Solomona
14. Chris Lewis
15. Tui Kamikamica
16. Tom Eisenhuth
17. Tyson Smoothy

Eels vs Storm betting predictions

Melbourne’s record away from home is simply outstanding. They will get the chocolates, but by how much is the question. The easy money to be cashed in on is the -5.5 start, but the 13-plus margin at $2.70 is absolutely in play. We are going to be aggressive and suggest the big win for the Storm.

Eels vs Storm NRL same game multi

The Storm at the -5.5 line looks like money for nothing, while Josh Addo-Carr and Ryan Papenhuyzen are both red-hot chances to cross at some stage. Tie them all up and you get a handy return of $5.25 at Sportsbet.com.au.