Parramatta Eels vs Canterbury Bulldogs Prediction

One of the oldest and most fearsome rivalries in all of rugby league gets reignited on Sunday afternoon.

There’s always drama when the Parramatta play the Bulldogs, as Gus Gould would say.

The drama could be rather one-sided here though, thanks to the soap opera that is currently playing out at Parra.

It’s taken two games for the Blue and Gold’s season to completely unravel and now the undefeated Dogs are waiting to inflict more misery on their arch rivals.

Can the Eels rally and put up a fight against the old enemy? Or will they go belly up straight out of the gate like the past two weeks? Let’s find out.

Here’s how these two teams will line up on the weekend along with some betting tips for the H2H, first try scorer and over/under markets. This is our Eels vs Bulldogs prediction.

Eels vs Bulldogs Round 3 Teams

Parramatta Eels

1. Isaiah Iongi 2. Sean Russell 3. Will Penisini 4. Zac Lomax 5. Jordan Samrani 6. Dylan Brown 7. Dean Hawkins 8. Joe Ofahengaue 9. Brendan Hands 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Jack Williams 13. J'maine Hopgood 14. Ryley Smith 15. Matt Doorey 16. Kitione Kautoga 17. Sam Tuivaiti

Canterbury Bulldogs

1. Connor Tracey 2. Blake Wilson 3. Bronson Xerri 4. Stephen Crichton 5. Marcelo Montoya 6. Bailey Hayward 7. Toby Sexton 8. Max King 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Josh Curran 11. Sitili Tupouniua 12. Jacob Preston 13. Jaeman Salmon 14. Kurt Mann 15. Harry Hayes 16. Daniel Suluka-Fifita 17. Kurtis Morrin

Eels vs Bulldogs Prediction and Betting Tips

Head-to-Head Prediction

What’s the matter Parramatta? Everything, absolutely everything. Jason Ryles’ first foray into being an NRL coach has quickly unravelled into a total nightmare.

Dead last, can’t score, can’t defend, best player out injured, five-eighth jumping ship at season’s end, surely it can only get better from here?

Not necessarily. Particularly since they play the free-scoring Doggies this week. Getting towelled up by your arch-rivals probably won’t ease the frustration of your supporters and that could be exactly what’s on the cards for Parra this week.

Betting tip: Canterbury Bulldogs.

First Try Scorer Prediction

The way Parramatta have been conceding points, tipping any Bulldog to go over first can’t be that bad, right? They’ve conceded them on the right, they’ve conceded them on the left, they’ve conceded them up the middle.

After looking over the Doggies lineup, we’ve decided to back Bulldogs’ captain Stephen Crichton to lead from the front early in this one.

Betting tip: Stephen Crichton.

Over/Under Prediction

The line for the over/under market is set at 46.5 points, which seems a little low considering the amount of points Parra have been letting in and the amount the Bulldogs have been scoring.

Both of the Bulldogs opening two matches have eclipsed this total, and they scored 40 on their own last week.

With Parra conceding 88 points over their first two games, all signs seem to point to the over market here.

Betting tip: Over total match points.

Eels vs Bulldogs Match Details

Date: Sunday, March 23, 2025.

Kick-off: 4:05pm AEDT.

Location: CommBank Stadium, Sydney.