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Round 24 of the NRL premiership continues this afternoon when the Melbourne Storm take on the Canberra Raiders at AAMI Park in Melbourne. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 2pm (AEST).
After a dressing down in Western Sydney, Craig Bellamy will be working hard in the training paddock to ensure his playing group stops giving away soft penalties and cheap errors. The Storm continue playing the long game with Ryan Papenhuyzen as the star fullback is given another week to play Queensland Cup.
Xavier Coates and Jahrome Hughes return from their injuries, while Justin Olam remains being omitted within the Storm backline.
The Raiders have not won a game by more than 10 points this year, showing the men in green are happy to grind out tight victories. However, with a points differential of -74, the Raiders still sit outside the NRL top four.
Sebastian Kris is set to miss the rest of 2023 due to a hamstring injury as NSW u19 star Ethan Strange is set to make his NRL debut in the centres.
Prediction
There are two ways this contest will go. Either the Storm get back to winning ways and win convincingly to show to the rest of the competition that they cannot be ruled out.
Or, the Raiders will grind out a tight victory in a low scoring thriller and extend their AAMI Park winning streak to six games on the trot. After tossing a coin, I’ve decided to go with the latter. Raiders by 1
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Game information
Venue: AAMI Park Kick-off: 2pm (AEST) TV: Fox Sports Streaming: Kayo Sports, Foxtel Odds: Storm $1.25 Raiders $4 – odds via PlayUp
Storm: 1. Nick Meaney 2. William Warbrick 3. Marion Seve 4. Young Tonumaipea 5. Xavier Coates 6. Cameron Munster 7. Jahrome Hughes 8. Tui Kamikamica 9. Harry Grant 10. Christian Welch 11. Trent Loiero 12. Tom Eisenhuth 13. Josh King 14. Bronson Garlick 15. Eliesa Katoa 16. Tepai Moeroa 17. Nelson Asofa-Solomona 18. Alec MacDonald 19. Reimis Smith 20. Jonah Pezet 21. Tariq Sims 22. Tyran Wishart
Raiders: 1. Jordan Rapana 2. Albert Hopoate 3. Ethan Strange 4. Matthew Timoko 5. Nick Cotric 6. Jack Wighton 7. Jamal Fogarty 8. Josh Papali’i 9. Zac Woolford 10. Joseph Tapine 11. Hudson Young 12. Elliott Whitehead 13. Corey Horsburgh 14. Adrian Trevilyan 15. Emre Guler 16. Pasami Saulo 17. Ata Mariota 18. Brad Morkos 19. Matt Frawley 20. Tom Starling 21. Trey Mooney 22. Utuloa Asouma
