NRL Odds & Picks - Telstra Premiership Panthers Vs Eels Round 5

NRL Odds & Picks – Telstra Premiership Panthers Vs Eels Round 5

Written by on June 8, 2020

The Penrith Panthers will host the league-leading Parramatta Eels in what should be the most intriguing matchup on the Round 5 NRL betting docket. With Penrith looking to build on their dominating Round 4 win the last time out and Parramatta looking for a better effort following their narrow (lucky?) win over Manly this past weekend, let’s find out which team is offering the best value in this affair so you can make your bets against their NRL odds.

NRL Panthers Vs Eels Round 5 

Why Bet On The Panthers at +180

Penrith is sitting in third place in the NRL standings with 92 points scored and 56 points allowed (+36). The Panthers picked up a convincing 26-0 shutout win over New Zealand on Friday, one week after playing the Knights to a 14-14 tie. Penrith got two tries from Matt Burton while Jerome Luai, Josh Mansour and Billy Burns all added solo tries in the win. Stephen Crichton added a trio of conversions in the win to help the Panthers remain unbeaten through four games.  Star halfback Nathan Cleary will make his return from his ban for breaking social distancing rules. Coach Ivan Cleary will choose between Matt Burton and Jarome Luai to put along side his son. Fullback Dylan Edwards is close to returning from a hamstring injury and could replace Caleb Aekins.

Why Bet On The Eels at -209

Parramatta is sitting atop the NRL standings, having scored 107 points while allowing just 30 points defensively to own the league’s best differential mark at +77. Still, the Eels needed a missed call by officials in order to get past Manly 19-16 in their Round 4 matchup on Saturday. Michael Jennings, Dylan Brown and Kane Evans all scored one try in the controversial win while Mitchell Moses went 2 of 3 on conversion attempts to help Parramatta remain the league’s only unbeaten team with no draws. Lock Nathan Brown will be back on the pitch after serving his two-match suspension for dangerous contact.

Expert Analysis and Predictions

While Penrith has won three of the last four meetings in this rivalry, including a hard-fought 16-10 win on May 23 of 2019, I’m expecting Parramatta to show up with a tremendous effort in this affair after narrowly escaping their first loss of the season against the Manly Sea Eagles the last time out.

While the Panthers can definitely score the ball and shut down their opponents as evidenced by the fact that they’ve put 92 points on the board while allowing just 56 defensively, through four matches, the fact of the matter is that Parramatta has been just a bit better than Penrith on both sides of the ball and owns the best defense in the league at this point of the season. This matchup should be an all-out thriller, but I’m going with the Eels to get it done and you should too!

Pick: Eels 28 Panthers 22

General Game Info Penrith Panthers (3-1-0) Vs Parramatta Eels (4-0-0)

  • When: Friday, June 12, 2020 at 4:55 AM AEST
  • Where: Bankwest Stadium, Sydney
  • Panthers Vs Eels Live: Nine/Fox
  • Money Lines: Panthers +180 / Eels -209Draw +2000

Telstra Premiership 2020 Round 5 Matches