Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs NRL betting tips & top odds | Round 1

Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs NRL R1 best bets

Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs NRL R1 preview

Sunday afternoon marks a historic event in the NRL with the opening match being played at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eagles.

The Rabbitohs will be without their preferred centre pairing of Jack Wighton (suspension) and Campbell Graham (sternum), while five-eighth Cody Walker is expected to recover from a calf injury following a fitness test in the US.

The Sea Eagles are without Joshua Schuster and Matt Lodge, but their off-season recruiting will cover them in the forwards in the short term.

This is an important match for the Sea Eagles, who have lost their last seven against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Also, not since 2013 have Manly won in round one against a side that finished 10th or higher on the previous year’s ladder.

Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs NRL R1 team lists

Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs NRL R1 betting predictions

Tom Trbojevic returns for the Manly Sea Eagles to partner captain Daly Cherry-Evans and new recruit Luke Brooks in the spine. If they can combine well to get centres Tolutau Koula and Reuben Garrick into the match, the +102 at Bet365 for the Sea Eagles to win is a great value bet.

Koula had a phenomenal end to the 2023 NRL season, scoring two tries and running for 300m with three line breaks, two line-break assists, one try assist and a whopping 16 tackle breaks. This performance came while playing at fullback, but the spine players on Sunday only need to give Koula the ball in space in order for him to have a similar impact on the game. Should they play to this plan, +260 is another great value bet for Koula to score a try at any time.

The playing field at Allegiant Stadium has been a topic of conversation in the lead-up, as it is one metre narrower than a regular NRL ground. This will have an impact on teams playing to wingers like Alex Johnston and Jason Saab who are specialists at scoring in the corner. Limited space will make scoring on the edges harder, so back this one to go under 41.5 total match points at -111.11.

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