NRL Sharks vs Storm tips, odds & best value bets – Rd 18, 2022

The Cronulla Sharks return to the Shire on Thursday night to take on the Melbourne Storm in the round 18 of the 2022 NRL Premiership. In a match that could define how the Sharks’ finals series shapes up, they couldn’t get Melbourne at a worse time after they scored four tries in five minutes against the Sea Eagles and almost stole a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Ryan Papenhuyzen was the orchestrator of the Storm’s comeback and will be looking to build towards the finals also. The Sharks, on the other hand, found themselves in deep waters against the Bulldogs on the weekend, but two tries in the second half saw them finish on top.

This Thursday, the Storm will be without Cameron Munster, Harry Grant, Reimis Smith, Felise Kaufusi and Xavier Coates. The Sharks will be without strike centre Siosifa Talakai, but they gain a handy replacement in Connor Tracey.

The Storm have won over 65% of their games against the Sharks, including a 56% win rate in Cronulla. However, all market support has been with the Sharks, who have shorted in price from $2.35 to $1.95 with online bookies since teams were named Tuesday.

The Sharks have proven themselves to be at least as good in defence as the Storm this season. While Melbourne are conceding an average of 17.3 points per game, Cronulla are going at 16.9 – bettered only by the Panthers (11) and Cowboys (13.9).

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The Sharks have also shown an aptitude for wet-weather football this season, and that makes them the smarter bet in this clash. This will be a hard slog in the wet, but the Sharks by 1-12 points at $3 looks a likely outcome.

These two sides met in round six, where the Sharks were able to land a few punches but were ultimately outclassed by an almost full-strength Storm outfit. Cronulla halfback Nicho Hynes took the blame on that occasion when he stated his team had improvement left to make.

Hynes has been incredibly critical of his side at points in this season, as well as himself. He was blunt in stating the Sharks needed to play for the full 80 minutes to beat a side like the Storm, and he’ll be making sure they do exactly that this week.

Look for Hynes to take this game personally and make it his mission to beat his former club. At $3.75 with BetOnline to score a try at any time, he is great value.

Not only are the Sharks an incredible football team in wet conditions, but with Papenhuyzen in the side, the Storm are simply incredible in any conditions. With the likes of Matt Moylan, Ronaldo Mulitalo and Jahrome Hughes running around on either side, there will be no shortage of points scored. Look for this clash to exceed the match points total of 38.5.

Key matchup: The battle of the forwards

The two forward packs in this clash will have an immense amount of work to get through. With the Storm missing Felise Kaufusi and the rotation of Harry Grant and Brandon Smith, they could show deficiencies in the middle. This does not mean the Sharks will have it easy, as they’ll still need to stop Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Tui Kamikamica in the middle. If there’s one man who can do that for the Sharks, it’s Dale Finucane. This will be one incredible clash of forwards that will decide the outcome of this match.

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