Alternative NRL Round 3 Predictions and Preview – Gurgler v NRL Memberships

Welcome to our alternative preview plus NRL Round 3 predictions.

Want more Haiku in your life? Feel the need for poetry and rugby league to collide? Or interested in NRL Round 3 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 3 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 3 Predictions and Preview awaits.

If that’s not enough, why not look at our NRL Team of the Week for Round 2.

NRL ROUND 3 PREDICTIONS – GURGLER PREDICTIONS

BRONCOS to beat Dragons
RAIDERS To beat Knights
ROOSTERS to beat Eels
MANLY to beat Warriors
COWBOYS to beat Sharks
STORM to beat Panthers
BULLDOGS to beat Tigers
RABBITOHS to beat Titans

TIPPING PROGRESS – 7/16  — Last Week 4/8
BEST BET PROGRESS – 7/16 – $1 Season Earnings $17.57 (from $1 bet on all tips) — Last Week 4/8 — $10.14

NRL ROUND 3 PREDICTIONS – OPPONENT PREDICTIONS – v NRL MEMBERSHIP

BACKGROUND FOR TIPS – Since it is all about expansion in the NRL, and eventually the dreaded criteria used to determine if clubs move, stay or get the arse, we’ve decided to use some of those “criteria” to determine tips.

This week it is all about Memberships. 

Our theory is, the more memberships, the more support across the country, the better the players feel, then the better they play, making the members even happier. A nice circle of joy. So whichever club has the highest membership figure head to head gets the tip.

Figures from League Unlimited 2019 Club Membership Tracker in brackets.

BRONCOS (31.6K) to beat Dragons (19.2K)
KNIGHTS (18.8K) to beat Raiders (14.1K)
EELS (22.7K) to beat Roosters (13.7K)
WARRIORS (16.3K) to beat Sea Eagles (11.3K)
SHARKS(14,843) to beat Cowboys (14,811)
STORM (22.4K) to beat Penrith (18.7K)
TIGERS (18.9K) to beat Bulldogs (15.1K)
RABBITOHS (28.4K) to beat Titans (7.6K)

OPPOSITION TIPPING PROGRESS – 10/16

Refer soon for the season’s opposition tipping progress.

NRL ROUND 3 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 – BRISBANE BRONCOS v ST GEORGE ILLAWARRA DRAGONS

Head to Head since 1998 – Broncos 23 Dragons 16
Last Season: Brisbane 18  St George Illawarra 48 — St George Illawarra 34  Brisbane 12

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Broncos way too hot
For Cowboys last Friday night
Dragons out of puff

SIDE INTERESTS

Can man mountain Tevita Pangai fire up again?

Will David Fifita be officially declared as an Origin Bolter after this weekend.

Korbin Sims is named to face his former club.

And can his brother tear the Broncos apart like their previous meeting in the final at Suncorp Stadium.

How long can/will the Dragons persist with Gareth Widdop at fullback?

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

The Dragons beat the Broncos twice in 2018, including that drubbing in the finals at Suncorp Stadium, but before 2018, the Dragons had only beaten the Broncos twice this decade in 14 games. Also prior to 2018, the Broncos had won 10 in a row at Suncorp Stadium v Dragons, and the Dragons five in a row at Suncorp before that.

BEST BET

Corey Oates to score a try and Brisbane Broncos to win @ $1.80

FRI 6:00pm – CANBERRA RAIDERS v NEWCASTLE KNIGHTS

Head to Head since 1998 – Canberra 19 Newcastle 18
Last Season: Canberra 28 Newcastle 30

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Both Round 1 winners
Also are Round 2 losers
Switched five-eighths to star

SIDE INTERESTS

Always Ricky Stuart

Another match for Kalyn Ponga to prove the move to five eighth should continue. With a quality new recruit like Mason Lino from the Warriors, surely they could do a little rotating. And the comparison with Jack Wighton  who have made a similar positional switch.

After one week back together, is this the weekend where the dynamic duo of Joey Leilua & Jordan Rapana explode back into life.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Canberra haven’t lost to Newcastle on a Friday night since 1998.

BEST BET

Canberra -2.5 start  @ $1.90

FRI 7:50pm – PARRAMATTA EELS v SYDNEY ROOSTERS

Head to Head since 1998 – Roosters 20 Parramatta 13
Last Season: Parramatta 10 Roosters 44

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Parra unbeaten
No Jarryd Hayne this season
Coincidence no?

SIDE INTERESTS

The enigma that is Blake Ferguson was in fine form last weekend, can he repeat it?

Clint Gutherson continues to do the job for Parramatta.

Cooper Cronk returns -Will Luke Keary be as dynamic this weekend with the return of Cooper Cronk.

Latrell Mitchell has been quieter than usual this year on the field, will he explode into life this weekend.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Parramatta have only beaten the Roosters three times in 14 matches on a Friday night.

BEST BET

Parramatta to lead at half time and fail to win @ $7.00

SAT 3:00pm – MANLY SEA EAGLES v NZ WARRIORS

Head to Head since 1998 – Manly 21 Warriors 9
Last Season: Manly 14 Warriors 34

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Warriors away
Despite being in NZ
Turbo man returns

SIDE INTERESTS

Always interesting to have a new venue, especially when an Australian Team takes a game to NZ.

The delightfully inconsistent Warriors are always a great team to watch.

Tom Trbojevic returns to make it a mouth-watering battle of the number ones.

A Manly loss would leave them 0-3, and very few sides have recovered from 0-3 to make the eight.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Prior to last season’s win, the Warriors had only beaten Manly once this decade. The Warriors have also only won 33% of the games in NZ where they are the home team.

BEST BET

Manly +6.5 start @ $1.65

SAT 5:30pm – NORTH QLD COWBOYS v CRONULLA SHARKS

Head to Head since 1998 – Sharks 25 Cowboys 17
Last Season: North Queensland 20  Sharks 14 — Sharks 28  North Queensland 16

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

No JT is bad
Missing next JT is worse
Sharks are circling prey.

SIDE INTERESTS

Will the revamped backline work? We thought Jake Clifford did enough last season to justify starting this season, but better late than never.

How will the Cowboys cope without Jason Taumalolo. Didn’t do that well against Broncos.

Will the Sharks end up playing family favourites with the pair of Braileys.

Is Andrew Fifita’s hair the standout style of the 2019 so far. Mahe Fonua says no.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

The Cowboys have only won 9 of the 31 clashes between these sides on a Saturday since 1998.

BEST BET

Gavin Cooper anytime tryscorer @ $3.75

SAT 7:30pm – PENRITH PANTHERS v MELBOURNE STORM

Head to Head since 1998 – Storm 25 Penrith 8
Last Season: Melbourne 16 Penrith 22

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Storms roll on again
Bathurst night out for Panthers
Country league is king.

SIDE INTERESTS

Always love an NRL game in the country. If the NRL were serious about looking after the game, they’d force every team to take a match to the country every season. Broncos included.

Big fan of Frank Winterstein.

Two very large humans in James Tamou and Nelson Asofa-Solomona going head to head.

Josh Mansour is named to make his return to the Penrith side.

Can the Panthers repeat the dose of upset they inflicted on the Storm in their only 2018 meeting.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

Penrith have a 3-2 win-loss ratio in Bathurst.

BEST BET

Melbourne to win 1-12 @ $2.80

SUN 4:05pm – WESTS TIGERS v BULLDOGS

Head to Head since 1998 – Bulldogs 21 Tigers 13
Last Season: Bulldogs 16  Wests Tigers 4 — Wests Tigers 14  Bulldogs 10

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Sunday again eh?
Two teams from Sydney again?
Surely it aint so.

SIDE INTERESTS

Can the old men Farah and Benji Marshall continue to shine?

Will the massive shake up of the Bulldogs team have instant results.

We still can’t work out why the Bulldogs best player of the second half of the season – Rhyse Martin – wasn’t selected in the first two games. It’s not like he didn’t tear it up in the NSW Cup either.

It’s the worst defence up against the best defence.

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

The Wests Tigers haven’t beaten the Bulldogs at Campbelltown in five attempts.

BEST BET

Total Match Points under 40.5 @ $1.90

SUN 6:10pm – SOUTH SYDNEY RABBITOHS v GOLD COAST TITANS

Head to Head since 1998 – Rabbitohs 10 Titans 7
Last Season: Gold Coast 16 South Sydney 18

MATCH PREVIEW HAIKU

Prepare for Souths blitz
Titans seem pointless right now
Points a plenty for one side.

SIDE INTERESTS

The competition’s best attacking team up against the Titans who are last with just six points in two games.

It is a pleasure to watch when the Rabbitohs go on their 15 – 20 minute blitz. They proved last year that few teams could live with it, or that they could maintain it.

Will Greg Inglis play?

Can Sam Burgess maintain his awesome form for the Rabbitohs. Ditto Cameron Murray?

Can Jai Arrow crack the 300 metre mark this weekend. Some effort in a well beaten side last weekend?

Will a win make Wayne Bennett smile?

BARELY INTERESTING FACT

South Sydney have won all three meeting between these sides at the ground since it was called CBUS Stadium. The Gold Coast won just 1/3 when it was called Skilled.

BEST BET

Cody Walker to score anytime @ $2.70