Knights vs Tigers NRL Rd 2 tips, odds & multi picks – 20/3/2022

The Newcastle Knights were one of the big surprise packets from Round 1 of the NRL Premiership with a comprehensive win over the Sydney Roosters, but will they back that performance up against the Wests Tigers this Sunday afternoon?

The previous two seasons for the Knights they’ve hit this fork in the road on a number of occasions, where they’ve looked ready to announce themselves as a good team but spoil it with a poor performance against a lowly ranked side.

On the other hand, the Tigers will rue a golden chance to end the famous Storm round one unbeaten streak, having held a lead with 25 minutes remaining.

Wests had the advantage of opposition players being injured in droves, but they still fluffed away a lead.

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The Knights come in as the $1.44 home favourite with BetOnline, much to the surprise of many punters. For as good as they were last week, that price still feels quite short and should be taken with plenty of caution.

As previously mentioned, Newcastle have had their moments in recent years where they’ve looked ready to announce themselves but ultimately haven’t.

Why many are starting to buy them is the play style looked different. With Mitchell Pearce in the side, he was too dominant with the football and it meant the outside men didn’t see as much open space as they probably should have.

While Adam Clune and Jake Clifford don’t have the same reputation as Pearce, they showed last round they can move the ball to across the park swiftly and it opened up great opportunities for Dane Gagai and Bradman Best to dominate.

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Even someone like Enari Tuala will present a great option in the tryscorer betting markets on the back of Bradman Best getting a chance to shine. Tuala has scored 12 tries in his past eight games for the club, so he will be one of the first players selected by punters.

Their forward pack on paper is better than the Tigers and they packed plenty of punch last round, and you’d have to think they want to reward their loyal fans with a big effort to start the 2022 campaign.

Wests last week showed they still have a lot of work to do on their goal line defence, which by the end of the game was leaking profusely.
They had good patches for the first 60 minutes but they weren’t prepared to grind the game out in the dying stages, failing to get the right end to their sets.

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They will get the experience of James Tamou back in the middle of the field as he returns from suspension, while Jackson Hastings will get his second cap for the club after showing some nice glimpses on return from the English Super League.

A good player to get behind in the try scoring market is the big unit Ken Maumalo, who has scored a try in each of the Tigers last four games as an underdog.

The other interesting fact for this clash is the fact Newcastle have failed to cover the line in seven of their last eight matches as the betting favourite, which feeds directly into the narrative of them not being able to take the next step.

Round 1 threw out some upsets, so why wouldn’t punters be lining up in droves to get on the Tigers at the line of +7.5?

Knights vs Tigers predictions & best bets

It feels like Newcastle will do enough to win but they’ll fall back into some bad habits as they try and establish their playing style for 2022. The Tigers are plucky enough to rattle their cage despite being outmatched on paper, so the +7.5 for the Tigers is where the money should go.

Knights vs Tigers NRL same-game multi

Taking the Tigers at the line with Enari Tuala, Ken Maumalo and Kalyn Ponga to all score tries pays a handsome $15.75 at Sportsbet.

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