Eels – Line: 5.00 Bet Units: The line here is very big and very attractive. The Eels are a decent NRL side, they literally had one really bad game since their last win…against the Tigers in Round 18 (probably the worst game of 2011)! Take out the Souths debacle and the Eels have been in every game up to their necks, and could have won most of them. The Eels out-rate the Tigers across the park – surprised, so are we! The Eels pack is quality, representative props plus a strong prop rotation, working second row and Maitua offering plenty of football in his return. The Tigers pack is strong as well, but the Eels hold a strong advantage here in the bench rotation with young Groat, talented, a bit off the pace at the moment. The go forward battle will be won by the Eels. The key person in this game is Farah, he is starting to run to the line and looks confident – the achilles heel for the Tigers is out wide. Marshall, we all know, can be boom or bust and this comes with indirect pressure on outside men Brown, Ayshford, Utai and Ryan. An observation: Chris Lawrence knows what he wants and Marshall gives it to him, simply put there is a simple task to hit Lawrence on the chest when he wants the footy – he demands it from Marshall – Benji then goes and does it. But without Lawrence, Marshall can get lost scrambling and crabbing, knowing what 'HE' wants to do but no idea what his outside hole runners want to do – they need more dominant outside backs demanding the football from Marshall. The Tigers need Lawrence back, big time, to threaten for a premiership – he is that important! The Eels can defensively hold this side, they need to score at least three tries to win, enter Hayne – Sunday afternoon, SFS, he doesn't mind a big stage – he is due for one of those games! The Eels can cause an upset here, but take the big line!
TLP Key Stats for Season 2011 – Round Selections only after Round 23:
