NRL 2023 Round 13 – Betting Tips, Odds & Predictions

By:
James Salmon
28/05/2023
NRL Betting Tips
NRL 2024 Round 13
NRL 2023 Round 13

With State of Origin Game 1 set to take place next Wednesday, Round 13 of the NRL season will mark the first of the bye rounds and will see many teams who are playing lose a host of their best players. That throws a real spanner in the works for many matchups, and has the odds for a couple of games looking vastly different to what they would otherwise. On this page, we’ll take a look at each of the five games set to take place this weekend, with detailed previews ending with a few tips and a look at the potential teams set to run out onto the park.

Round X Fixtures

FixturesInfo (AEST)Home OddsAway Odds
Dolphins vs DragonsThursday May 25 at 7.50pm$1.55$2.45
Eels vs CowboysFriday May 26 at 8.00pm$1.17$5.00
Warriors vs BroncosSaturday May 27 at 5.30pm$1.45$2.75
Rabbitohs vs RaidersSaturday May 27 at 7.35pm$2.05$1.77
Knights vs Sea EaglesSunday May 28 at 4.05pm$1.36$3.15

The Dolphins vs St. George Illawarra Dragons

Round 13’s Thursday night matchup isn’t quite the drawcard of many of the weeks previous, but the Dolphins are a consistent source of intrigue this season and get a great opportunity to win their seventh game of the season – more than most probably thought they would win this year – just halfway into it. They continued their streak of alternating wins and losses with a 24-16 defeat at the hands of the Storm last weekend, and though they were outplayed for much of that game they did give themselves an outside chance of stealing victory with two late tries to cut the margin to eight. They couldn’t, but the Storm are coming into some good form so it was hardly a performance to be too concerned about. The Dragons, meanwhile, enjoyed a great win over the struggling Roosters, with an incredible finish which saw three lead changes in the last eight minutes culminating in a Mathew Feagai try in the 79th minute and a Zac Lomax conversion on the whistle to give them a 24-22 win. It was perhaps the most exciting moment of the season to date for the Dragons, but despite it they dropped from 16th to last place as a result of the Tigers extraordinary, dominant win over the Cowboys. Having broken a six-game losing streak though, they won’t be too concerned about that. Prior to last weekend, the Dragons most recent win actually came when these two sides first met. On their home turf, the Dragons were dominant in that game, winning 38-12. However, the Dolphins have established themselves as a legitimate finals contender since then, and should be able to get the job done on their own home turf this time around.

BookmakerJames’ TipOdds
Dolphins to win$1.55
Dolphins 13+$2.90
Dolphins -5.5$1.90

Predicted Squads

DolphinsThe Dolphins: 1. Tesi Niu 2. Jamayne Isaako 3. Euan Aitken  4. Brenko Lee 5. Jack Bostock 6. Kodi Nikorima 7. Isaiya Katoa 8. Jesse Bromwich 9. Jeremy Marshall-King 10. Jarrod Wallace 11. Kenny Bromwich 12. Connelly Lemuelu 13. Mark Nicholls 14. Anthony Milford 15. Ray Stone 16. Herman Ese'ese 17. JJ Collins

St. George Illawarra DragonsSt. George Illawarra Dragons: 1. Tyrell Sloan 2. Mat Feagai 3. Moses Suli 4. Zac Lomax 5. Mikaele Ravalawa 6. Talatau Amone 7. Jayden Sullivan 8. Jack De Belin 9. Jacob Liddle  10. Francis Molo 11. Ben Murdoch-Masila 12. Jaydn Su'a 13. Jack Bird 14. Moses Mbye 15. Toby Couchman 16. Michael Molo 17. Jaiyden Hunt

Parramatta Eels vs North Queensland Cowboys

Two top four clubs from last year headline Friday night’s action, but this one doesn’t quite have the top of the table aura around it that the same matchup would have last year. The Eels and the Cowboys are currently sitting 13th and 14th respectively, both with 5-7 records, though they enter the game on the back of vastly different efforts last week. The Eels, despite their losing record all season, have actually been okay, losing a number of tight games to Premiership contenders early in the year. Entering last week’s game against the red-hot Rabbitohs, however, they had lost a couple they would have hoped to win, but they completely flipped the expected narrative on its head, putting in their best performance of the season to run out 36-16 against a team which had just recently overtaken the Panthers as the Premiership favourites. The Cowboys have had a completely opposing last three weeks. Unlike the Eels, they entered last week’s game on the back of two consecutive strong wins – two of their best of the year – and also unlike the Eels, were playing probably the worst team in the league as opposed to potentially the best. Rounding out the way in which their weekend differed from the Eels, rather than putting in their best game of the year, they were, to put it simply, woeful, conceding an extraordinary 66 points to a team which had to that point in the season averaged less than 17 per game. They went down 66-18 in an incredible outcome, seemingly completely giving up in a game against a team which had won just two of its first ten games. It’s rarely wise to read too much into an individual performance, but if ever a solitary game was enough to completely damn a team’s season, it was that one. It’s very hard to see them bouncing back from that with a win, particularly given how the Eels played last weekend.

BookmakerJames’ TipOdds
Eels 13+$1.77
Eels/Eels half-time/full-time double$1.45
Eels to win$1.17

Predicted Squads

Parramatta EelsParramatta Eels: 1. Clint Gutherson 2. Maika Sivo 3. Will Penisini 4. Bailey Simonsson 5. Sean Russell 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Wiremu Greig 9. Josh Hodgson 10. Ofahiki Ogden 11. Bryce Cartwright 12. Matt Doorey 13. J'maine Hopgood 14. Brendan Hands 15. Makahesi Makatoa 16. Jack Murchie 17. Jirah Momoisea

North Queensland CowboysNorth Queensland Cowboys: 1. Scott Drinkwater 2. Kyle Feldt 3. Brendan Elliot 4. Peta Hiku 5. Gehamat Shibasaki 6. Ben Hampton 7. Chad Townsend 8. Jordan McLean 9. Reece Robson 10. Coen Hess 11. Heilum Luki 12. Luciano Leilua 13. Jason Taumalolo 14. Jake Granville 15. Jack Gosiewski 16. Mitch Dunn 17. Kulikefu Finefeuiaki

New Zealand Warriors vs Brisbane Broncos

The Warriors and the Broncos have both improved significantly in 2023, and will on Saturday face off for the first time this season. The Warriors are coming off a bye which they enjoyed after snapping a three-game losing streak with a 24-12 win over the Bulldogs which took their record to 6-5, and with the points yielded from the week off they moved further up the ladder into seventh place. They’ve established themselves as a genuine finals contender, even if they will have to fend off numerous more highly fancied teams to get there, and a win this weekend would go a long way to solidifying those credentials. The Broncos have been brilliant this season but there’s no doubting the fact that they are beginning to falter, and the incredibly difficult stretch of games they’ve endured over the past month has seen their losses start to pile up. After losing just one of their first eight they’ve now lost three of their last four, with a 15-4 defeat at the hands of the Panthers last weekend following on from a 24-16 loss to the Storm the week prior. Their scoring capabilities which were so prevalent early in the year have been notably absent over the past month, with scores of 6, 32, 16 and 4 in that time. They’ve certainly faced some excellent defensive teams in that time though, and the Warriors won’t prove quite as difficult to score against. New Zealand is not an easy team to beat across the pond this season and deserve to be given a genuine chance of winning this one, but they are a little too short-priced as favourites for my liking. The Broncos will be more heavily impacted by State of Origin, but nonetheless if you’re looking for value then the Broncos should be the way to go.

BookmakerJames’ TipOdds
Broncos to win$2.75
Broncos 1-12$4.00
Broncos +7.5$1.93

Predicted Squads

New Zealand WarriorsNew Zealand Warriors: 1. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad 2. Dallin Watene-Zelezniak 3. Rocco Berry 4. Adam Pompey 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Ronald Volkman 7. Shaun Johnson 8. Addin Fonua-Blake 9. Wayde Egan 10. Bunty Afoa 11. Josh Curran 12. Marata Niukore 13. Tohu Harris 14. Freddy Lussick 15. Dylan Walker 16. Jackson Ford 17. Tom Ale

Brisbane Broncos

Brisbane Broncos: 1. Jesse Arthars 2. Deine Mariner 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Herbie Farnworth 5. Corey Oates 6. Ezra Mam 7. Adam Reynolds 8. Corey Jensen 9. Billy Walters 10. Martin Taupau 11. Keenan Palasia 12. Jordan Riki 13. Kobe Hetherington 14. Cory Paix 15. Logan Bayliss 16. Xavier Willison 17. Brendan Piakura

  • The Cowboys’ last two losses have been by 48 and 38 points respectively
  • The Warriors are improved this year but that’s certainly not only because of how they’ve performed in New Zealand, where they’ve lost their last two games.
  • The Rabbitohs have the second best points difference in the league, while the Raiders have the fourth worst.

Multi of the Week

LegsOdds
Eels 13+$1.77
Broncos to win$2.75
Rabbitohs to win$2.05
Bet $10 for $99.78 with PlayUp

South Sydney Rabbitohs vs Canberra Raiders

The Rabbitohs’ six-game winning streak came to an end last weekend, with an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance against the Eels seeing them go down 36-16. As good as the Eels were, the Bunnies were a shadow of the team that had won those six in a row by an average of 20 points and beaten teams like the Panthers and Storm along the way. But we can forgive them for one disappointing performance. They’ll be eager to bounce back on their home turf this weekend, and after the way the Raiders played last weekend they will be confident in their ability to do just that. Canberra had enjoyed a long winning streak of their own prior to last weekend with five victories in a row, though it wasn’t exactly the toughest run of matches and many games were close, so impressive as it was it probably papered over a few cracks for the Raiders. They were exposed last weekend. Up against the Sea Eagles, who haven’t exactly been world beaters themselves of late, the Raiders were demolished, going down 42-14 to record their first loss since March and drop back to eighth place. They look set to be right on the cusp of the top eight come season’s end – as they are now – and it could easily be just a game or two which decides whether they play finals. If they can snatch a couple of wins against better teams it will go a long way to helping them see September action, and with the Rabbitohs set to lose a number of their stars to State of Origin this could be a good chance for them to do so. Still, on their home turf, the Bunnies look like good value here.

BookmakerJames’ TipOdds
Rabbitohs to win$2.05
Rabbitohs 1-12$3.35
Rabbitohs +1.5$1.87

Predicted Squads

South Sydney RabbitohsSouth Sydney Rabbitohs: 1. Blake Taaffe 2. Alex Johnston 3. Isaiah Tass 4. Josiah Karapani 5. Taane Milne 6. Cody Walker 7. Lachlan Ilias 8. Tevita Tatola 9. Damien Cook 10. Tom Burgess 11. Michael Chee Kam 12. Jacob Host 13. Hame Sele 14. Richard Kennar 15. Liam Knight 16. Jed Cartwright 17. Daniel Suluka-Fifita

Canberra Raiders

Canberra Raiders: 1. Sebastian Kris  2. Nick Cotric 3. Jarrod Croker  4. Matt Timoko 5. Jordan Rapana 6. Jack Wighton 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papalii 9. Zac Woolford 10. Joseph Tapine
11. Corey Harawira-Naera 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Tom Starling
15. Emre Guler 16. Pasami Saulo 17. Ata Mariota

Newcastle Knights vs Manly Sea Eagles

Rounding out the shortened Round 13 is a game between the Knights and the Sea Eagles which both sides will be desperate to win as they attempt to establish themselves as potential finals contenders. The Knights have been gradually removing themselves from that conversation over the past few weeks, before an impressive 46-26 win over the Titans a fortnight ago got them back on track. However, they returned to their struggling selves last weekend against the Sharks, scoring just six points en route to a 20-point beating which took their record to 4-1-6. The Sea Eagles, meanwhile, bounced back from three consecutive losses with one of their best performances of the season, taking the Raiders down 42-14 to move to 5-1-5 and just out of the top eight. These two sides have already met once this season, back on the first of April, when they recorded the first and to this date only draw of the season in a high-scoring, exciting affair. This one once again looks like it could be close. The Knights, courtesy in no small part to their home ground advantage, go in as comfortable favourites, but they are relatively short. The Sea Eagles are a deeply flawed team but showed what they can do when it all clicks last weekend, however they are a very top-heavy side which invariably makes them vulnerable to being impacted by State of Origin, and that’s exactly what looks likely to happen this weekend. This is a great opportunity for the Knights to snatch another win. 

BookmakerJames’ TipOdds
Knights to win$1.36
Knights 13+$2.25
Knights -9.5$1.87

Predicted Squads

Newcastle KnightsNewcastle Knights: 1. Kalyn Ponga 2. Dominic Young 3. Dane Gagai 4. Bradman Best 5. Greg Marzhew 6. Tyson Gamble 7. Jackson Hastings 8. Daniel Saifiti 9. Phoenix Crossland 10. Jack Hetherington 11. Adam Elliott 12. Lachlan Fitzgibbon 13. Leo Thompson 14. Simi Sasagi
15. Jacob Saifiti  16. Jack Johns 17. Mat Croker 

Manly Sea EaglesManly Sea Eagles: 1. Kaeo Weekes 2. Jason Saab 3. Brad Parker 4. Tolu Koula 5. Reuben Garrick 6. Josh Schuster 7. Cooper Johns 8. Taniela Paseka 9. Lachlan Croker 10. Sean Keppie 11. Haumole Olakau’atu 12. Ethan Bullemor 13. Karl Lawton 14. Gordon Chan Kum Tong 15. Samuela Fainu 16. Toafofoa Sipley 17. Ben Condon

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