Canberra Raiders vs Melbourne Storm

Sunday  first NRL Round 21 match is between Canberra Raiders and Melbourne Storm with the opening kick to commence at 2.00pm local time. The game is to be played at Canberra Stadium with the away team Melbourne Storm hold favouritism in the match. View our preview and teams for the game between Canberra Raiders and Melbourne Storm.

Canberra enforced their dominance of St. George last week, recording their tenth straight victory over the Dragons and in the process, recorded only their second away win of the season (the other being over Melbourne).

That win took the Raiders to 24 competition points, equal with Bulldogs and Sharks and in seventh spot on the ladder, one win ahead of Knights (v Sydney this weekend) and the Warriors (v Cronulla this weekend).

They return to Canberra Stadium to defend their unbeaten home-record this season against Melbourne, whom they’ve beaten three of their past five matches including the two most recent bouts.

One saving grace for the Melbourne Storm is that the game will be played during the day, not at night – a time that has seen many a visiting sides caught in horrible and foreign weather conditions.

Melbourne have only won one of their past five matches and whilst the Origin series did have an effect on some of these results, Melbourne were at near full strength against the Warriors last week but finished on the wrong side of the ledger 30 – 22.

That was the first game back for their Origin players who, after a full schedule during the preceding two months, all did make some uncharacteristic mistakes during the game that aided the Warriors cause.

They face a similar challenge this week against the Raiders who, like the Warriors, are a team who can score quick points – especially at home.

Melbourne can ill-afford a slow start and will have to eliminate some of last week’s mistakes to ensure victory here.

Given the Raider’s home record and that over the Storm, combined with the Storm’s star trio of Cronk, Slater and Smith all showing signs of a long season already, the Raiders at home might represent the value here.