NRL Round 20 Friday Night Double Preview

As well as providing his best value bets every week, our NRL guru Steve Green also previews every NRL game for members. Each week on the blog we’ll feature some of his match previews from the eight games. Check out his NRL Round 20 Friday Night Double Preview below

For the rest of Steve’s NRL Round 20 previews plus all of his best bets, join NRL Tips now!

NRL Round 20: Wests v Warriors

This is two teams that are really struggling at the moment, however the continued exodus of senior Warriors players and Gus Gould, along with key suspensions and injuries up front, means Wests have rightfully been installed favourites here.

Wests, for all their issues, at least have a pretty steady lineup, and spine in particular. Brooks, Doueihi, Laurie and Liddle continue to be among the best players for Wests each week, and if only their outside backs and forwards could defend a little better, Wests would be a much more competitive team.

Wests have averaged 42 points conceded per game over the last five weeks. Admittedly, they have been playing against some strong attacking teams during that period (Storm, Souths, Eels and Manly)… so the Warriors attack, missing some of their best players, will be a big step down and Coach McGuire will be looking at this match to get his team’s confidence back.

Amazing scenes as the @NZWarriors and players, coaches and staff from rival @NRL clubs bid farewell to Roger Tuivasa-Sheck and Leeson Ah Mau. Total class.

🎥 Cameron George pic.twitter.com/CXVdXudpvw

— Andrew Gourdie (@AndrewGourdie) July 28, 2021

As for the Warriors, while I think their squad is still strong on paper, it is clear that things are chaotic in camp with senior forwards like Harris, Lodge and Fonua-Blake out for this match, Ah Mau on his way home, and their heart and soul RTS also granted early leave.

The Warriors will head into this match with a spine made up of an 19-year-old at fullback, Peter Hiku at 6 (after a long layoff, the former winger / centre has not played many games in the halves), O’Sullivan at halfback (only played seven games this season) and Taniela Otukolo… who despite looking very impressive with limited opportunity, is also only 19 and has only played 2 NRL games.

Because of this lack of cohesion in key positions, as well as severely weakened front row, I think Wests should be bigger favourites here.

I’m backing them at the line, but I am reluctant to bet too much on a team that has such a leaky defensive record.

Predicted score
Wests 26
Warriors 14

NRL Round 20: Broncos v Cowboys

Both of these teams showed a lot of improvement and determination in their losses last weekend, with the Cowboys pushing the Storm all the way and the Broncos nearly running down the Panthers with a late flurry of tries.

While the Cowboys were impressive and I can see why they are being given such a strong chance here, I do think the Cowboys benefited from a strong home ground advantage, an uncharacteristically high error rate from the Storm and a failure of the Storm to ice their opportunities.

There is no doubt the Cowboys are a gritty team when they do not make errors and play to Coach Payten’s game plan, but on my ratings the Broncos lineup is stronger and with the home ground advantage, I would have them bigger favourites.

With Albert Kelly a strong chance of returning at 7, and Staggs really firing out wide, I think the Broncos backline is looking a lot sharper than it was earlier in the year.

Gamble and Niu have been performing quite well out wide, while Riki, Bullemor, Robati and Hetherington are providing plenty of enthusiasm and aggression in the middle.

Although they only had a small crowd last weekend, I think the Brisbane faithful will come out in their droves and I like the Broncos to get the win here. The head-to-head looks a decent bet.

Predicted score
Broncos 25
Cowboys 18