TipResumen

PARRAMATTA EELS

The Eels have played a lot better in the past few weeks, dealing to Titans last week, a narrow loss to the top of the Table Rabbits 26-20 and claiming a 6 point victory over the Dogs three weeks back. This does overshadow how poor this year has been though particularly on the defensive, where Parra rank as 13th and currently reside at the bottom of the table. Last week showed glimpses of improvement ultimately closing out with a solid victory over the Titans. Leading 22-8 at HT with 4 tries to two, it was a pretty dour second half with a try a piece and a number of errors, for Parra though, a win is a win and with a bit of luck they may avoid the spoon at the Cowboys expense, who are having a shocker of a season. Big changes this week for The Eels, Jaeman Salmon starts at five-eighth, moving Corey Norman to fullback, Clint Gutherson to centre, Jarryd Hayne to wing and Bevan French out with Will Smith returning on the bench.



ST GEORGE DRAGONS

This is a slippery game for the Dragons, win as their position on the table suggests, they will crucially cement their place in the top 4, lose however and the top 4 possibility slips away with the Panthers, Sharks, Broncos and Warriors nipping at their heels. Last week the Dragons had another tough encounter against the Warriors, it was a great spectacle to watch and close scoring to finish 12-18. They only positive for the Dragons was they still had a chance to win right up to final whistle but they were not clinical enough when it counted and the Warriors defended very well. Positives for the Dragons here is that Parramatta have defended very poorly this season and the coach has made some drastic changes to positions and personnel for this week so you can expect the Dragons to cross the stripe at least 3-4 times in this one. One change for the Dragons, Blake Lawrie comes on to the bench with Ah Mau starting for the injured Paul Vaughn.



THE BETTING VERDICT

Although the Eels have had a season to forget, their home record is not too bad. 5-5 to date is the home record and considering Parra are 0-10 away, at home is the only place you could even consider backing the Eels. St George have a great home record, but away tells a different story, The Dragons have only 4 from 9 away from home. St George only just crept past the Eels back in round 16, 20-18 courtesy of a thrilling comeback with the Eels scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to win by a narrow margin, needing both kicks at goal, Widdop stepped up and slotted both conversions This tells me the Eels have the game to rattle the Dragons and as St George have slowly slipped in form of late the Eels do have a chance in this one. Current odds obviously have the Dragons as favourites $1.44 v $2.85, the handicap line is 6.5 points and combined points 40.5 With so many changes to the Eels I do not expect them to win, but sometimes those wholesale changes can produce amazing out of the box results. The Dragons don’t have a great away record as mentioned above and did struggle against the Eels just 7 weeks ago. As a result, I suggest you take the handicap margin, head start for the Eels and hope they can produce a similar performance as the last time these two met.