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Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL Tips - Melbourne to round out ANZAC Day with comfortable win

Ryan Tucker

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Last updated: Wed 23 Apr 2025 14:33

Ryan Tucker 23 Apr 2025

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Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs expert predictions for Friday’s Round 8 NRL game
Kick off is at 8:00 PM (AEST) at AAMI Park
Melbourne Storm predicted to win against South Sydney Rabbitohs.
The Storm's strong ANZAC Day record makes them favorites.
Key player Ryan Papenhuyzen to watch, known for scoring against Souths.

Ryan's top picks for the final clash on ANZAC Day!

Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs, Round 8 2025 - Expert Prediction

Melbourne will round out ANZAC Day with a victory against South Sydney at AAMI Park, prolonging the winless record of the Bunnies in Melbourne.

Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs, Round 8 2025 - Expert Prediction
Head to Head
Melbourne Storm Form Analysis & Betting Trends
Recent Form
2025 Betting Trends
Melbourne Storm Team News
Melbourne Storm Team List
South Sydney Rabbitohs Form Analysis & Betting Trends
Recent Form
2025 Betting Trends
South Sydney Rabbitohs Team News
South Sydney Rabbitohs Team List
Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL 2025 Round 8 FAQ’s

Souths are yet to win a game from their 19 starts in the Victorian capital and while they are likely to perform better than they did in their pointless performance last weekend they are coming up against a Melbourne team that also had their asses handed to them last weekend and that have an exquisite ANZAC Day record.

Melbourne have played in 17 ANZAC Day games since joining the NRL in 1998 and have lost just 3 times during that span, most recently in 2015 to the Sea Eagles. They also haven’t lost back to back regular season games in over two years, dating back to Rds 2 and 3 of the 2023 season.

My expectation is that they would have had a rocket put up them by Craig Bellamy during the week and they will come out with a defensive strategy to stop the Rabbitohs progress up the field, much like the Bulldogs were able to do last weekend. Souths’ defensive line is being broken at an alarming rate, they rank 14th in opposition Linebreaks while Melbourne average the most of any team in the league.

Take the Storm to win and cover the line while going Over their Team Total. With lots of points on offer there is bound to be a good selection of tryscorers, Ryan Papenhuyzen has a 100% strike rate vs Souths so we are backing him in here!

Melbourne have won 14 of 17 matches on ANZAC Day.
The Storm are 9-2 straight up and 7-4 ATS against the Rabbitohs since 2019.
Melbourne are averaging 30 pts in their last 5 games, Souths have allowed 23 pts per game in their last 5.
Ryan Papenhuyzen has scored in all 6 games against South Sydney for a total of 8 tries.

Head to Head

Melbourne hold a 9-2 record over South Sydney since the beginning of the 2019 season. They won both matchups last season and South Sydney have never won across their 19 games playing in Melbourne.

5 of the last 6 games have gone Under the Game Total and 7 of 11 have finished with margins of 1-12 points.

Melbourne are 7-4 ATS vs South Sydney since the start of 2019.

Melbourne Storm Form Analysis & Betting Trends

Recent Form

Last 5 W/L	Last 5 ATS	Last 5 O/U
3-2	2-3	4-1

Melbourne’s form took another dip last weekend as they were shown up by the Dolphins in a 42-22 loss at Suncorp Stadium. It was only the 2nd loss for the Storm this season but once again against an opponent they were tipped to beat by double digits.

It was only the 2nd time in the club’s history they have lost a game after leading by 16 points and only the 2nd time since the beginning of the 2019 season they have conceded 40+ points.

The team missed 41 tackles, allowed 9 offloads and 4 linebreaks to the Dolphins aswell as committing 13 errors, giving away 6 penalties and 4 set restarts themselves. You could argue almost all of these stats are unusual for and against a Melbourne Storm team.

2025 Betting Trends

ATS	Over/Under	1-12	13+
3-3	5-1	1-1	3-1

Melbourne Storm Team News

Will Warbrick is still out with concussion so Kane Bradley retains the wing spot after a 2 try effort last weekend. Jack Howarth is out injured but Nick Meaney returns from a facial injury quicker than expected.

Bronson Garlick will be the dummy half for the next few weeks with Harry Grant sustaining a hamstring injury. Lazarus Vaalepu takes over from Tui Kamikamica on the bench while Nelson Asofa-Solomona will likely be promoted from the reserves to the 17 closer to game day.

Melbourne Storm Team List

1. Ryan Papenhuyzen

2. Kane Bradley

3. Grant Anderson

4. Nick Meaney

5. Xavier Coates

6. Cameron Munster

7. Jahrome Hughes

8. Stefano Utoikamanu

9. Bronson Garlick

10. Josh King

11. Shawn Blore

12. Eli Katoa

13. Trent Loiero

Interchange

14. Tyran Wishart

15. Alec MacDonald

16. Joe Chan

17. Lazarus Vaalepu

Reserves

18. Ativalu Lisati

19. Sua Fa'alogo

20. Keagan Russell-Smith

21. Coby Williamson

22. Nelson Asofa-Solomona

South Sydney Rabbitohs Form Analysis & Betting Trends

Recent Form

Last 5 W/L	Last 5 ATS	Last 5 O/U
2-3	3-2	0-5

Souths were brought back down to Earth hard last weekend by the league leading Bulldogs, losing 32-0. It was the first time the Bunnies have been kept scoreless since a 50-0 loss to the Melbourne Storm in May of 2021, a total of 99 games between duck eggs. Prior to that they had gone 117 games without being kept scoreless.

South Sydney had just 30% of Territory in the game and only 39% of Possession barely scraping over 1000 Run Metres on just 26 completions from 35 sets. They missed 51 Tackles and allowed their opponent to camp out in their Red Zone for multiple sets having to make 63 Tackles Inside 20m defensive area.

Despite having one of the biggest boots in the league, Latrell Mitchell had just 410 Kick Metres playing ⅝ with Cody Walker contributing only 34 metres to the team total. None of the starting forwards ran for more than 74 Metres in the game and after 80 minutes the Rabbits had 0 Linebreaks on their stat sheet.

2025 Betting Trends

ATS	Over/Under	1-12	13+
4-3	0-7	4-1	0-2

South Sydney Rabbitohs Team News

Some musical chairs in the Rabbitohs lineup this week with Latrell Mitchell returning to the fullback role with Jye Gray going to the bench and Lewis Dodd to the reserves. Jayden Sullivan is the halfback with Cody Walker the five-eighth.

Bayleigh Bentley-Hape is the new winger with Campbell Graham moving back to his usual centre position. Euan Aitken moves into the forwards.

Jai Arrow comes into the starting lock position with Lachlan Hubner out with concussion.

South Sydney Rabbitohs Team List

1. Latrell Mitchell

2. Bayleigh Bentley-Hape

3. Jack Wighton

4. Campbell Graham

5. Isaiah Tass

6. Cody Walker

7. Jayden Sullivan

8. Sean Keppie

9. Peter Mamouzelos

10. Tevita Tatola

11. Keaon Koloamatangi

12. Euan Aitken

13. Jai Arrow

Interchange

14. Jye Gray

15. Siliva Havili

16. Davvy Moale

17. Tallis Duncan

Reserves

18. Liam Le Blanc

19. Lewis Dodd

20. Thomas Fletcher

21. Salesi Ataata

22. Declan Casey

Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL 2025 Round 8 FAQ’s

How to watch Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL 2025 Round 8?

You can watch the Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL 2025 Round 8 game via Fox Sports or Kayo Sports. If you are watching from outside of Australia the WatchNRL app is the perfect solution.

How to buy tickets to Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL 2025 Round 8?

To buy tickets to the Melbourne Storm vs South Sydney Rabbitohs NRL 2025 Round 8 game check the NRL website or the official Melbourne Storm site.

Verdict

Melbourne Storm v South Sydney Rabbitohs

Storm -14.5

Line

$1.91 - 2 Units

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Storm over 30.5

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