Panthers vs Raiders NRL R7 betting tips & odds – Sunday, April 24

The Canberra Raiders will travel north to the hardest away game in the NRL when they take on the Penrith Panthers at BlueBet Stadium this Sunday. In the last 24 hours, the Raiders have been rocked by major injury news as captain Elliot Whitehead has been ruled out with serious facial injuries. This is one of several changes that coach Ricky Stuart has made since they lost to the Cowboys at home last week. On the other hand, Ivan Cleary has named an unchanged Penrith side as they look to continue their immense winning streak.

Having won 20 matches at BlueBet Stadium in a row, and given the form of the Canberra Raiders, it’s no surprise to see one-way traffic in the betting for Penrith. They have been backed heavily to win at $1.10 with online bookmakers, while Canberra’s price fluctuates between $6.50 and $7. While wet weather is predicted for Sydney this weekend, it’s hard to believe anything could stop Penrith from piling on the points on Sunday. Having won their last match by 20 points, and given the form of both these sides, the -19.5 line for Penrith looks a great play.

Stuart has persisted with young gun Xavier Savage, playing him on the wing after publicly acknowledging Savage’s lack of experience. Charlie Staines will be marking up on the right-hand side for Penrith, opposing Savage, and it’s expected the Panthers will exploit this mismatch. Staines can score multiple tries on his day, and given the weakness on Canberra’s left edge, it’s easy to see him scoring more than once. He’s currently paying $4.60 at BetOnline to score two or more tries on Sunday, a brilliant value play in this game.

Canberra showed an exceptional weakness in their forward pack last week as Cowboys backrowers Jeremiah Nanai and Heilum Luki both scored tries on the edge. Look for Penrith to exploit this weakness via their star backrower Viliame Kikau, who’s another great value play to score a try at any time during the game, paying $2.55 with Neds.

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Key matchup: Jerome Luai vs Jack Wighton

Both these five-eights have been a part of the NSW system for the last couple of years and will have a great knowledge of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has declared the former Dally M Medal winner Jack Wighton is in career-best form, while Jerome Luai has recorded two tries, five try assists and three line-break assists on Penrith’s deadly left-edge attack.

While the Raiders are given very little chance of winning this game, it seems any hope lies with Wighton to create the opportunities for Canberra. The success of away team looks to hinge on the performance of Wighton and his ability to ignite this Canberra side to try and get a win.

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