Saturday’s NRL 2018 Round 17 match is between Canterbury Bulldogs and Canberra Raiders. The opening kick is set to commence at 19:35 local time with the game to be played at Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney. The away team Canberra Raiders are the favourites for the match.
View our preview and teams for the game between Canterbury Bulldogs and Canberra Raiders.
When: 19:35 | Saturday 07/07/2018
Where: Belmore Sports Ground, Sydney
Preview:
Canterbury are coming off a big win over a depleted Newcastle team which lost Slade Griffin for the year with a horrific injury and superstar Kalyn Ponga to a hamstring injury.
The Dogs were able to make easy work of this and grabbed a valuable two points.
Canberra, on the other hand, were excellent in the first 40 min leading Brisbane 16-0 at the break.
They managed to find a way to self-destruct again and for me, that has now cost them a top 8 finish.
The performance of Josh Hodgson was exceptional and again he’ll be called upon this week.
The ability he has to dominate the ruck with his big forwards and create game speed giving his talented outside backs to play off is such a bonus.
KEY BATTLE: Michael Lichaa v Josh Hodgson
Both players will handle the ball more than anyone else, this giving them the most influential role.
Raiders will win this and win well.
The Verdict
I can’t see the Bulldogs coming close to them if they play that style again.
But this is the Raiders and anything is possible.
For the Dogs, losing Moses Mbye to the Tigers and Raymond Faitala-Mariner (injury) will have an effect along with no Aaron Woods and David Klemmer to Origin looks to me like the Dogs’ season will continue on the same path.
The Bulldogs have a 28-40 (41.2 percent) O/U record as a home team since 2013.
Unibet Odds:
Canterbury at $2.75
Canberra at $1.46
Odds:
Tip: Canberra Raiders at $1.43
Value Tip: First Try Scorer: Nick Cotric at $8.50
More Info:
Teams:
Canterbury Bulldogs:
1 Will Hopoate, 2 Brett Morris, 3 Kerrod Holland, 4 Marcelo Montoya, 5 Reimis Smith, 6 Lachlan Lewis, 7 Jeremy Marshall-King, 8 Aiden Tolman, 9 Michael Lichaa, 10 Danny Fualalo, 11 Josh Jackson (c), 12 Rhyse Martin, 13 Adam Elliott
Interchange: 14 Fa’amanu Brown, 15 Clay Priest, 16 Ofahiki Ogden, 17 Greg Eastwood
Reserves: 18 Asipeli Fine, 19 Matthew Frawley, 20 Francis Tualau, 21 Josh Morris.
Canberra Raiders: 
1 Brad Abbey, 2 Nick Cotric, 3 Jarrod Croker (c), 4 Joseph Leilua, 5 Michael Oldfield, 6 Sam Williams, 7 Aidan Sezer, 8 Dunamis Lui, 9 Josh Hodgson, 10 Shannon Boyd, 11 Joseph Tapine, 12 Elliott Whitehead, 13 Siliva Havili
Interchange: 14 Blake Austin, 15 Junior Paulo, 16 Liam Knight, 17 Iosia Soliola
Reserves: 18 Jack Murchie, 19 Charlie Gubb, 20 Royce Hunt, 21 Craig Garvey.
NRL News:
Canberra have re-signed big man Sia Soliola to a two-year NRL contract extension which will likely see him finish his career in the nation’s capital.
Soliola on Monday put pen to paper on a deal to remain at the Raiders until the end of the 2020 season.
The former New Zealand and Samoan international will be 34 by the end of the deal.
It’s also a huge boost for Ricky Stuart’s forward stocks following the loss of Shannon Boyd and Junior Paulo next year to Gold Coast and Parramatta respectively.
But the Raiders have shored up their front row by re-signing Soliola and Josh Papalii and luring Englishman Ryan Sutton.
“I’m really excited and happy to be remaining in Canberra,” Soliola said.
“I broke the news to my son Israel and he’s really excited too. Canberra has become a home for our family and we are looking forward to staying here.
“Although our results on the field haven’t been where we wanted to be this year, I know we’ve got a very talented group of players here for the next couple of seasons and I’m very humbled to be a part of that.”
