NRL Betting - Cronulla Sharks v Canterbury Bulldogs

Recommended bet:

Winning Margin – Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks to Win by 7+ points @ 19/20 (1.95) with Centrebet

The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks welcome the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs to the Southern Cross Group Stadium (Endeavour Field) on Sunday afternoon.

After a slow start to the season the Sharks are now the form team of the Premiership, with last weekend’s 24-16 victory on the road away to the Canberra Raiders being their fourth win on the spin.  It took them into the top-half of the table into 8th position with 12 points, but they are now just four points shy of top spot.

The Bulldogs also secured a win last week, beating the Parramatta Eels 20-12 in what was a clash of the bottom two.  It ended a run of three straight defeats though and was just their third victory of the campaign to date to leave them 13th in the Premiership table on six points.

The Sharks are set to welcome back Paul Gallen (knee) at lock and Jayson Bukuya (illness) in the back row.  As a consequence, Ava Seumanufagai and Joseph Paulo are both benched, while Kurt Dillon and Braden Uele drop out. Josh Dugan (foot) and Luke Lewis (calf) have been named in the reserves as they recover from injury.

For the Bulldogs, David Klemmer is set to start after coming off the bench in last week’s win over the Eels, with Danny Fualalo absent with an ankle injury and Clay Priest joining the interchange.

The teams last met almost exactly a year ago, with the Sharks squeaking home 9-8 at Endeavour Field.  The Sharks also won the previous two Premiership meetings between the teams, both of which were played away from home and both of which were also extremely tight.

The Sharks are worthy betting favourites to win again on Sunday, although the best odds of 8/15 (1.52) with bet365 (*correct at the time of writing) aren’t particularly tempting.  

The Bulldogs can be backed at 7/4 (2.75) with Unibet, whilst the draw is on offer at 25/1 (26.00) with Centrebet.

The Sharks have narrowly won on the last three occasions the teams have clashed in the Premiership, but it could just be slightly more comfortable on this occasion and Centrebet’s 19/20 (1.95) on a Sharks victory by 7+ points has some appeal.