Friday’s NRL 2018 Round 21 match is between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Melbourne Storm. The opening kick is set to commence at 19:55 local time with the game to be played at ANZ Stadium, Sydney. The away team Melbourne Storm are the favourites for the match.
View our preview and teams for the game between South Sydney Rabbitohs and Melbourne Storm.
When: 19:55 | Friday 03/08/2018
Where: ANZ Stadium, Sydney
Preview:
Match of the round sees 1 v 2 and this could be the decider for Minor Premiership honours and while the Rabbitohs have been front and centre of the limelight, the Storm have sailed under the radar and now sit atop.
If you’re gauging the result off last week’s performance, well the Storm win this easily, however I don’t think it will be that simple.
Big games bring out the big players and both teams have a stack.
One of those is Sam Burgess who will be primed along with his mates after he so rightly said their efforts were not up to scratch.
The Storm have been bubbling along well and another clinical effort will be required.
The Bunnies will play the style in which they have built their success on this season.
Open, fast, skilful play with some unpredictable players will make things tough.
KEY BATTLE: Damien Cook v Cameron Smith
So many good matchups in this one including Cody Walker v Cameron Munster, Sam Burgess v Jesse Bromwich but the most important one is Damien Cook v Cameron Smith.
The speed that Cook plays at around the ruck will worry the Storm who love to be in such control particularly in this area.
The other man is Smith.
His dominance over the past six weeks has been the reason they are sitting where they are.
The Verdict
This battle should be a cracker and if the Bunnies can get run of the game, I see an upset on the cards.
This will be a tight early preview to what’s coming.
Melbourne lead South Sydney 11-2 since 2010.
Unibet Odds:
South Sydney Rabbitohs at $2.15
Melbourne Storm at $1.72
Odds:
Tip: Melbourne Storm at $1.68
Value Tip: First Try Scorer: Josh Addo-Carr at $9.00
More Info:
Teams:
South Sydney Rabbitohs:
1 Alex Johnston, 2 Campbell Graham, Hymel Hunt, 4 Dane Gagai, 5 Robert Jennings, 6 Cody Walker, 7 Adam Reynolds, 8 Tom Burgess, 9 Damien Cook, 10 George Burgess, 11 John Sutton, 12 Angus Crichton, 13 Sam Burgess (c)
Interchange: 14 Adam Doueihi, 15 Cameron Murray, 16 Jason Clark, 17 Tevita Tatola
Reserves: 18 Billy Brittain, 19 Kyle Turner, 20 Dean Britt, 21 Braidon Burns.
Melbourne Storm: 
1 Billy Slater, 2 Suliasi Vunivalu, 3 Will Chambers, 4 Curtis Scott, 5 Josh Addo-Carr, 6 Cameron Munster, 7 Jahrome Hughes, 8 Jesse Bromwich, 9 Cameron Smith (c), 10 Nelson Asofa-Solomona, 11 Felise Kaufusi, 12 Ryan Hoffman, 13 Dale Finucane
Interchange: 14 Joe Stimson, 15 Tim Glasby, 16 Christian Welch, 17 Kenny Bromwich
Reserves: 18 Justin Olam, 19 Tui Kamikamica, 20 Albert Vete, 21 Cheyse Blair.
NRL News:
Melbourne have shown their rise to the top of the NRL ladder was no fluke, crushing Canberra in a seven-try NRL romp at AAMI Park.
Leading into Saturday night’s match, Storm coach Craig Bellamy admitted he was surprised by their lofty position and unsure if they deserved it, but the Storm looked right at home as competition leaders with a 44-10 win over the Raiders.
Their eighth-straight victory sets up a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash with Souths in Sydney next Friday night.
Canberra could rightly blame some poor refereeing for their last-round loss to Cronulla but there were no excuses this time or answers to the Storm’s rampant attack.
Melbourne scored their first try in the sixth minute through second-rower Felise Kaufusi and from that point never looked like losing.
The home side took advantage of some flimsy Raiders defence and poor ball control, as well as a lop-sided penalty count, to race to a 24-4 halftime lead.
Canberra’s only try came when Josh Hodgson sent veteran Sia Soliola barrelling across the line.
Billy Slater and Cameron Munster caused Canberra plenty of headaches, with Munster wrong-footing Raiders defenders to score the Storm’s second try of the night.
Rookie backrower Joe Stimson, who started ahead of Ryan Hoffman in a late switch, also got through a mountain of work in defence.
Winger Josh Addo-Carr pounced on a loose ball to start the second half with the Storm’s fifth try before Canberra centre Joey Leilua did likewise down the other end.
But the Storm scoreboard continued to tick over and Canberra was left to play out the match down a man after Jordan Rapana was sin-binned for a professional foul.
