Sea Eagles vs Raiders NRL Round 17 betting tips – July 8, 2021

The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles will host the Canberra Raiders at 4 Pines Park on Thursday night to kick off Round 17 of the 2021 NRL Premiership.

The Sea Eagles have become something of a bogey team for the Raiders, who have lost six of the last seven meetings while claiming just one win at Brookvale in the last decade.

Manly will be without State of Origin stars Daly Cherry-Evans and Tom Trbojevic, which is a significant handicap but not enough to deter punters from placing their cash on them as the $1.25 favourite.

Much of that enthusiasm comes from seeing just how diabolical Canberra were against the Gold Coast, and they’ll be without Jack Wighton and Josh Papalii, who are being rested in preparation for Origin III.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart is getting desperate and has all but guaranteed he will look deep within his squad to make some changes in order to find some energy.

Sea Eagles vs Raiders betting preview

Without Tom Trbojevic, Manly are just not the same football side. In their last match without the superstar fullback, however, they did manage to put up a stunning 50 points against the Cowboys, thanks in large part to the performance of Reuben Garrick.

Garrick showed he can be the back-up when Trbojevic is missing and his speed proved to be a real asset when he got a little closer to the action, so perhaps his replacement on the left wing is a good bet to score at any time. Jason Saab will also attract plenty of interest and looks the best bet to score the first try.

Manly have been winning big in recent weeks with scores of 50 or more in three straight games, so it feels like taking the -13.5 line is the best value bet, even if they are missing DCE and Tommy Turbo. That just tells you how far Canberra have fallen.

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Canberra’s only wins since Round 5 have come against Brisbane and Canterbury – which, for a team many picked as a genuine premiership contender, is the disappointment of 2021. Their fall from grace has been spectacular and there appears to be plenty of disharmony in the ranks, so even looking at the +13.5 line is fraught with danger.

Jack Wighton and Josh Papalii will both be missing, and it will leave Canberra extremely short on creative options. Wighton is horribly out of form and only in Origin on blind loyalty, but once he is out of the Raiders team, the list of creative players becomes extremely short.

This might read as a typo, but at $21, is it worth putting a bet down for the Raiders to score exactly zero points? Finding tryscorers on the back of their performance last week feels like an impossible task, and there is a feeling the bottom has fallen out of them.

Key matchup: Kieran Foran vs Sam Williams

With a few big names missing it will be a couple of old heads who shape up as the key players. Sam Williams is a great clubman but showed in his defensive effort on Jamal Fogarty last weekend that he just can’t be left isolated, and he is going to be forced to make plenty of defensive decisions with Kieran Foran running lots of traffic his way. Foran will look to combine with Reuben Garrick or get Karl Lawton in a one-on-one situation with the Canberra halfback. On paper it looks like a lot of points are going to be scored down that corridor, and it feels like a make-or-break on the night for the Raiders.

Sea Eagles vs Raiders predictions & best bets

Match line: Manly Sea Eagles -13.5

Even without Tom Trbojevic, Manly will win and cover the -13.5 line. The Sea Eagles will look to create more second-phase play in this match up, and once they tire out the middle of the Canberra Raiders, the points will come with simplistic football.

Same game multi: 2 legs @ $11.25

Sea Eagles -13.5 with Jason Saab to score the first try can fetch you $11.25 at Sportsbet.