Alternative NRL Round 2 Predictions and Preview – Gurgler v Best Supported Team 2018

Welcome to the Kick to Come – a preview of the rugby league weekend ahead, our alternative preview plus NRL Round 2 predictions.

Want more Haiku in your life? Feel the need for poetry and rugby league to collide? Or interested in NRL ROUND 2 Predictions based on a barely interesting stat or something completely unrelated to rugby league. Of course you do, and our Alternative preview and NRL Round 2 Predictions has just about everything..

There’s a bit of betting talk, TV times for the ultimate sloth, and more. Like the much-loved C & C Music Factory, we’ll hopefully give you a few things that make you go hmmmm.

Want to read more? Of course you do. Our Alternative NRL Round 2 Predictions and Preview awaits.

If that’s not enough, why not look at our NRL Team of the Week for Round 1.

NRL ROUND 2 PREDICTIONS – GURGLER PREDICTIONS

SOUTHS to beat Dragons by 16pts
MELBOURNE to beat Canberra by 8pts
COWBOYS to beat Broncos by 4pts
GOLD COAST to beat Sharks by 4pts
NEWCASTLE to beat Penrith by 6pts
ROOSTERS to beat Manly by 12pts
BULLDOGS to beat Parramatta by 4pts
WESTS TIGERS to beat Warriors by 8pts

TIPPING PROGRESS – 3/8
BEST BET PROGRESS – 3/8 – $1 Bet Win / Loss: -$0.57 (from $1 bet on all 8 tips)

NRL ROUND 2 PREDICTIONS – OPPONENT PREDICTIONS – WHICH CLUB WAS BETTER SUPPORTED IN 2018

BACKGROUND FOR TIPS – During the off-season, we ran a statistics based piece on which NRL club was the best supported in 2018, using crowd numbers, averages, memberships and social media.

Follow that 2018 GFI – Best Supported Team here.

So whoever team rates higher on the GFI 2018 is likely to gets more fans, who create more noise which spurs the players on.

SOUTHS to beat St George Illawarra
MELBOURNE to beat Canberra
COWBOYS to beat Broncos
SHARKS to beat Gold Coast
NEWCASTLE to beat Penrith
ROOSTERS to beat Manly
BULLDOGS to beat Parramatta
TIGERS to beat Warriors

OPPOSITION TIPPING PROGRESS – 5/8

Refer soon for the season’s opposition tipping progress.

NRL ROUND 2 PREVIEW – MATCH BY MATCH PREVIEW

Here is our short game by game preview and we feature the only NRL preview using Haiku to describe each game. (Don’t know what a Haiku is? Here’s Wikipedia) There is plenty of other lightweight stuff including some barely interesting facts, our “best bet”, and a few thoughts about the game ahead in point. Quantity over quality we say.

THU 7:50pm – ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS v SOUTHS SYDNEY RABBITOHS

Head to Head since 1998 – Dragons 17 Rabbitohs 14
Last Season: St George Illawarra 16  South Sydney 12 – South Sydney 24  St George Illawarra 10 – (Finals) South Sydney 13  St George Illawarra 12

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Charity is gone
Rabbitohs all fired up
Dragons Frizzelle-less

SIDE INTERESTS

Can Cody Walker keep calm this weekend? Who cares as long as he keeps scoring.

How long until Matt Dufty gets a starting role.

Will everything be Ben Hunt’s fault this season?

Doesn’t the new Souths jersey look much better?

We applaud Adam Reynolds performance in Round 1, and hope that the variety on the last play is here to stay.

John Sutton.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Souths have won 10 of the last 13 matches between these sides going back to 2012. But the Dragons have won 3/4 at Jubilee Oval since 1998.

BEST BET

Cody Walker to score anytime @ $3.25

FRI 6:00pm – CANBERRA RAIDERS v MELBOURNE STORM

Head to Head since 1998: Melbourne 30 Canberra 11
Last Season: Melbourne 44 Canberra 10

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Gold Coast held to nil
Nil chance of a Raiders win
Ricky only storm.

SIDE INTERESTS

Ricky Stuart – he’s always up to something interesting.

Jordan Rapana’s early return from injury, and whether his partnership with Joey Leilua will flourish again.

Cameron Munster’s follow-up after a great first round performance. Same for Jahrome Hughes.

John Bateman impressed in his first game in the NRL from Super League, and interesting to see how he’ll go against a better pack.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Stretching back to 2003, Melbourne have won all but one of the 14 games played t night between these sides.

BEST BET

Melbourne to win by 1-12 @ $3.10

FRI 7:50pm – BRISBANE BRONCOS v NORTH QLD COWBOYS

Head to Head since 1998  – Broncos 30 Cowboys 16
Last Season: Brisbane 24  North Queensland 20 — North Queensland 34  Brisbane 30

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Strange local derby
They seem to like each other
Many miles apart.

SIDE INTERESTS

One of the real premium clashes in the NRL. Well worth the hype.

Watching the new main JT continue his form in Brisbane. 300 metres and beyond.

Josh Maguire’s performance after being told to keep it quiet in the midweek pressers.

Tevita Pangai Jnr is back in the starting side. His battle with JT up the middle is a real lip-smacker.

Battles of the halves, especially game breakers Milford v Morgan. An early sighter for Maroon responsibilities.

Couldn’t there be a tribute to the late, and great Billy J. Smith.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

In the last 12 matches between these sides at Suncorp Stadium only two of the games have been decided by more than 4 points. One of those was by six points. Brisbane have won eight of those.

BEST BET

Either side to win by 8 points or less @ $2.10

SAT 3:00pm – CRONULLA SHARKS v GOLD COAST TITANS

Head to Head since 1998 – Sharks 11 Gold Coast 8
Last Season – Gold Coast 9 Sharks 10

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Strange that in Round 1 
Gold Coast didn’t like water
Not many points here

SIDE INTERESTS

Surely the Gold Coast can score a point.

New halves combination for the Titans in AJ Brimson and Ryley Jacks. One a former Tweed Heads Seagulls, the other a current one.

Speaking of halves, Shaun Johnson will continue to be a side interest, until the novelty of him wearing a Sharks jersey wears off. Not that most people aren’t used to him hanging jerseys a lot. He did play for the Warriors who averaged four kits a season.

Andrew Fifita v Shannon Boyd

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Gold Coast have won three of the last four meetings at Shark Park. 8 of the last 9 meetings have seen a margin of six points or less.

BEST BET

Gold Coast +8.5 start @ $1.74

SAT 5:30pm – NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS v PENRITH PANTHERS

Head to Head since 1998 – Newcastle 20 Penrith 13
Last Season: Newcastle 18  Penrith 29 — Penrith 12  Newcastle 20

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Welcome first round win
Knights on track for better times
No Klein problems now.

SIDE INTERESTS

Battle of two of the better props from last weekend – David Klemmer and James Tamou.

Despite underwhelming so far at number six, we hope this is the week that Ponga breaks out and blows us all away.

Can the Knights attract another 20K plus crowd. Saturday evening timeslot leave no excuse.

They did rank quite high in our previous piece on Who Was the Best Supported Club in the NRL in 2018.

Which player will win the contest of best hyphenated player.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Between these two sides their home grounds have had 11 different names since 1998. Penrith leading 6-5 for now.

BEST BET

Penrith to score 18.5 points @ $1.99

SAT 7:30pm – MANLY SEA EAGLES v SYDNEY ROOSTERS

Head to Head since 1998 – Manly 18 Roosters 14
Last Season – Manly Warringah 24  Roosters 56  — Roosters 22  Manly Warringah 20

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

No wins for these sides
Disappointments of Round One
Double dose waiting

SIDE INTERESTS

Surely the Roosters won’t start the season 0/2

Can Manly pull a bigger crowd than the recent Waratahs clashes.

Will Manly be worried after increased talk of NRL expansion coming at the expense of underperforming NRL clubs.

Latrell Mitchell.

Jared Waerea-Hargreaves v Martin Taupau.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

The last six clashes at Brookvale have gone (in order of most recent match) – Roosters, Manly, Roosters, Manly, Roosters, Manly. Which means Manly are a certainty.

BEST BET

Manly +10.5 start @ $1.80

SUN 4:00pm – CANTERBURY BULLDOGS v PARRAMATTA EELS

Head to Head since 1998 – Bulldogs 22 Parramatta 19
Last Season – Bulldogs 20  Parramatta 12 — Parramatta 14  Bulldogs 8

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Two Sydney team – check
Sunday arvo kick-off – check
Short car ride for Rabs

SIDE INTERESTS

Not much really. This one really is a record and watch later.

Perhaps to see if the Bulldogs weren’r as terrible as many said last weekend.

How long can they leave PNG International Rhyse Martin out for?

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

The Bulldogs have only scored more than 12 points v Parramatta once in the last six meetings, which has been their only win in that time.

BEST BET

Total Match Points under 36.5 @ $1.90

SUN 6:00pm – WESTS TIGERS v NZ WARRIORS

Head to Head since 1998 – Wests Tigers 15 NZ Warriors 14
Last Season – Warriors 26  Wests Tigers 4

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Tigers tough it out
Old heads better than Manly’s
Warriors surprise

SIDE INTERESTS

Can the famously inconsistent Warriors back up their record breaking first round over the Bulldogs.

Can Adam Keighran continue his fine form from last weekend.

Will the “old timers” in Benji Marshall and Robbie Farah be able to work their magic again against the Warriors.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Despite the myth that the Warriors are no good away from home in the first few months of the year, they have won 7/11 of matches in NSW/ACT in the first three months of the season sine 2015. Alternatively, the Wests Tigers have only lost once to the Warriors when at a home ground in Australia in the first three months of the season back to 2001.

BEST BET

Solomone Kata to score anytime @ $2.50