NRL finals week 2, 2020: Eels v Rabbitohs betting tips, prediction & odds

Welcome to our Parramatta v South Sydney preview, prediction and odds update for their NRL second semi-final at Bankwest Stadium on Saturday, October 10.

The winners of the Eels v Rabbitohs match advance to the preliminary finals where they will play the Penrith Panthers at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday, October 17.

Parramatta suffered a massive blow on the eve of this match, with veteran centre Michael Jennings stood down after testing positive to banned substances. Jennings has been provisionally suspended after a positive A-sample for Ligandrol and Ibutamoren.

The loss of Jennings and the late withdrawal of winger Blake Ferguson (leg injury) has forced bookmakers to tighten Souths even further in the betting.

Bookmakers have the Bunnies hot $1.37 favourites to end the season for the Eels ($3.15) but that price for Souths is a little skinny for our tastes.

Souths have won three of the past four matches between the teams, including 38-0 at Bankwest Stadium in round 16 in their only meeting so far this year. That embarrassing defeat for the Eels seemed to spark a decline in their belief.

Wayne Bennett’s Rabbitohs have been in superb attacking form, at least in their past two matches. They suffered a shock loss to then bottom team Canterbury 26-16. But they bounced back from that loss with an incredible 60-8 slaughtering of the Sydney Roosters and then last week they started slowly but in the end blitzed Newcastle 46-20 in their opening finals match.

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The good news at the selection front for Souths is that they can send out the same 17 that were too good for the Knights.

In contrast, the Eels have lost electric winger Maika Sivo to a knee injury and second-rower Marata Niukore to a two-match suspension for a crusher tackle, on top of the late losses of Michael Jennings and Ferguson. George Jennings comes in for Sivo, while Ray Stone is added to the bench for Niukore. Brad Takairangi and Haze Dunster come into the back line for the late withdrawals.

Read on for our Eels v Rabbitohs tips and winner prediction for their NRL clash on Saturday, October 10.

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Eels v Rabbitohs odds

Kick-off: 7.50pm local time
Venue: Bankwest Stadium
Head to head odds: Parramatta $3.15, South Sydney $1.37
Line betting: Parramatta (+7.5 points) $1.94, South Sydney (-7.5 points) $1.86
Match total: 44.5 points: over $1.91, under $1.91

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Eels v Rabbitohs free betting tips

Below our NRL betting expert has highlighted his free Parra-Souths betting tips for Saturday night’s game.

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Parramatta Eels v South Sydney Rabbitohs prediction 10-10-2020

We expect this match to be closer than the bookies think. Parramatta will be desperate to not let such a promising season just peter out weakly The Eels have a powerful pack and should revert to their exciting offloading ways. They will be a handful for the lighter and more mobile Souths forwards, but in the end the Souths back line has been in dazzling form. The like of Cook, Cody Walker and Adam Reynolds should be able to orchestrate enough points to send their team to another preliminary final. Our Eels v Rabbitohs prediction: Souths by 6 points.

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Eels v Rabbitohs lowdown

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