Betting On Pivotal Round 18 of The National Rugby League

• The Bulldogs are -240 favorites at home, where they have gone 5-0-1 so far this season.
• The top ranked Canberra Raiders are favored by 11.5 points against the Dragons.

SYDNEY – Round 18 of the National Rugby League regular season starts tomorrow, July 4th as the Canterbury Bulldogs will host the Brisbane Broncos for the first match of the weekend. Here are the odds for some of the best games this week.

Bulldogs vs Broncos Game Odds

This is easily the game of the week as the Bulldogs sit second in the standings while the Broncos are currently ranked fifth. Legal sports betting sites give the Bulldogs -240 odds to win outright and set the spread at seven and a half points.

A major factor in this game is the fact that it will be played at Accor Stadium, meaning the Bulldogs will have home field advantage. Canterbury has won five games and lost just one game played at Accor Stadium so far this season.

Conversely, the Broncos have won just two games on the road so far this season while losing four road matches.

They have been the fourth highest scoring offense in the league thus far, but have struggled mightily on the road. They are on a three game winning streak, in which each game was played at home. Prior to this streak, they lost 34-6 to the ninth ranked Sun Eagles on the road.

The Bulldogs’ dominance stems from their league leading defense, allowing just 240 points through 14 games, about 17 points allowed per game.

Bettors should lean towards the Bulldogs to cover the spread at home.

Raiders vs Dragons Game Odds

Rugby betting sites list the Canberra Raiders as 11.5 point favorites over the St. George Illawarra Dragons on Saturday. The Raiders boast a league best 13-3 record through the first 17 weeks of the season.

Canberra has a 6-1 home record, second best in the league, while the Dragons have gone just 2-5 in road games.

The Raiders are currently riding a six game winning streak into this weekend’s action. Illawarra is 3-2 in their last five games.

The two teams have faced off once in each of the last two seasons, both resulting in a double digit win for Canberra.

While both teams are in the top half of the league defensively, there is a large offensive disparity between the two. The Raiders are third in the league in total points with 434, about 27 points per game, while the Dragons have scored the fifth least points in the league, averaging 21 points per game and 306 points in total.

All signs point towards the Raiders being able to cover the 11.5 point spread.

News tags: Brisbane Broncos | Canberra Raiders | Canterbury Bulldogs | National Rugby League | rugby | St. George Illawarra Dragons