Alright, here's some straight up, no nonsense analysis. The Newcastle Knights and Canberra Raiders, two teams straight up locked at 7-8. Like seeing two identical twins fighting over the last piece of cake, ain't that fun?
Looking at recent performances, Newcastle seems to be faring better. They dusted off Parramatta Eels by eight points, not a small feat, let me tell you. But on the other hand, the Canberra Raiders seem to be struggling like a fish out of water, losing to Melbourne Storm and other teams with a significant margin.
Talk about history, well, we are not history teachers here, but past matchups seem to favor the Raiders just a tiny bit more than the Knights. The Raiders have Golden Gate wide victory margins in two of the last five games.
Now we are at the 18th round in the regular season, crunch time for both teams. Looking at the standings, the Knights are perched at 11th position, followed closely by the Raiders at 12th. Not exactly titanic struggle, but hey, sports is a funny game.
This matchup got me pulling my hair out, it's such a toss-up. Knights are favored here with a 2.5 point spread, but take it with a grain of salt given the recent form of these teams. Ah, the joys of my job.
Enough of me yapping, let's get to the nudges and the winks. Although the Knights are marginally over the Raiders in standings, they have performed better recently, showing us they still have some fight in them. Also, given the payout data, betting folks might fancy the Knights.
Albert’s Prediction: Newcastle Knights by 3