NRL Odds & Picks - Telstra Premiership Storm Vs Knights Round 5

NRL Odds & Picks – Telstra Premiership Storm Vs Knights Round 5

Written by on June 9, 2020

The Newcastle Knights will look to take care of business at home when they host the visiting Melbourne Storm in their intriguing Week 5 matchup of legitimate championship hopefuls. With the Knights looking to remain unbeaten and the Storm looking to get the big road win, let’s find out where the best value lies in this pairing so you can place your bets against their NRL odds.

NRL Storm Vs Knights Round 5

Why Bet On The Knights at +135

The Knights are sitting in second place in the NRL standings with a league-high 110 points scored and 56 points allowed (+54). Newcastle pulled off the biggest upset of Round 4 by beating the previously unbeaten Canberra Raiders 34-18 on Sunday. Edrick Lee scored two tries while Kalyn Ponga added one try and four conversions. Enari Tuala and Bradman Best also scored tries in the win. Newcastle got the win despite losing the possession battle 51-49 percent. The Knights won the meters run battle 2,065 to 1,730. The Knights are unchanged, although Phoenix Crossland is on standby for the injured Kurt Mann and Lachlan Fitzgibbon could also be a late inclusion.

Why Bet On The Storm at -161

Melbourne is sitting in fifth place in the NRL standings with 58 points scored and just 44 points allowed (+14). The Storm come into this matchup off a convincing 22-8 win over South Sydney on Friday that saw Ryan Papenhuyzen, Suliasi Vunivalu, Josh Addo-Carr and Justin Olam all scored on tries while Cameron Smith added a pair of conversions. Defensively, Melbourne allowed one try and one conversion in the dominating win while taking the possession battle 53-47 percent and the meters run battle 1,736 to 1,468. Ryley Jacks replaces the injured Jahrome Hughes (broken hand) at halfback, Christian Welch starts in the front row with Brandon Smith moving back to the bench and Nelson Asofa-Solomona replaces Chris Lewis on the interchange.

Expert Analysis and Prediction

Melbourne owns a 26-15 edge in 41 career head-to-head meetings and they’ve won each of the last five meetings, including a 34-4 smackdown win at home on June 15, 2019 and a 28-10 road win almost one year exactly earlier on June 16, 2018. Still, I like the Newcastle Knights to take care of business at home in this matchup, mostly because they’ve put up a league-best 110 points to Melbourne’s far more modest 58 points. Back the Knights to get it done in what could be the very best matchup on the round 5 docket.

Pick: Knights 24 Storm 20

General Game Info Melbourne Storm (3-0-1) vs. Newcastle Knights (3-1-0)

  • When: Saturday, June 13, 2020 at 2:30 AM AEST
  • Where: Bankwest Stadium, Sydney
  • Storm Vs Knights Live: Fox Sports
  • Money Lines: Storm -161 / Knights +135

Telstra Premiership 2020 Round 5 Matches