It’s State of Origin time again, and that means plenty of origin hype, overhyped arguments back and forth between Qld and NSW and their fans, and yet another rubbish round of just four games in the NRL. Origin stars missing of course.
For the second last time this Origin period, we’re going to call for stand alone Origin period where the entire NRL takes the week off, instead of the truncated, half hearted competition that lives this week.
One last whinge, if the NRL says there’s not enough talent for another two teams, yet they are happy enough around this time of year for holes to be filled by the very players who could make an extra two teams work. Look at a case in point from recent years – Jake Granville – who plied his trade in the Qld Cup and then as a back up hooker getting a handful of minutes. When finally given the chance he has flourished for North Qld this season, and there’s no doubt there’s another 40 and more similar stories out there just waiting to be told.
The tremendous crowd in Perth also proved that they are ready for some more NRL. If they pull 20K+ for three games a year it is time to give them another go. It certainly put a few of the prestigious Sydney teams to shame.
Moving to Origin, what a wonderfully unbiased and fair publication the News Ltd paper is in Queensland. After stirring up the Brisbane fans enough to boo their own Queensland players at Lang Park last weekend, they are now questioning his merit as Qld halfback. First of all, why does the paper care – it was between Gold Coast and Manly – two clubs the paper rarely reports on. Previous crimes of the Stuart Broad aka The man who won’t be named was embarrassing and just another reason not buy or read it. The award of newspaper of the year on the front is questionable.
Now onto the action in the NRL this week.
SOUTHS v WESTS TIGERS – FRI 7:45PM
No Inglis? No Luke? No Reynolds? No worries they’ll say, especially after their first quality performance in too long. But they were taking on New Zealand who enjoy the trip to Western Australia very little with their 0 from 7 record confirming that.
The Tigers are the team who always seem close to a win, but can’t quite get over the line. They have been very competitive against Souths this season and last, so a close match may not surprise. The absence of Farah to Origin will at least give the referee an easier fixture.
The game is at the home grounds of just about all the Sydney team so home and away won’t matter too much here.
NEW ZEALAND v ROOSTERS – SAT 6:00PM
The Roosters were surprised by the Sharks again last weekend leaving the tally 0-2 for the season. New Zealand have their own zero as advised above being winless in 7 attempts in Perth.
The Roosters and the Warriors both have players missing, Mitchell Pearce being the best Origin inclusion to Queensland if you believe the press.
But the golden rule of whatever you expect from NZ tip the opposite applies here. What looks a Warriors win on paper means exactly the opposite and put your money on the Roosters. We could be wrong, and if we are, we hope it is due to a Beast hat trick.
GOLD COAST v BULLDOGS – SUN 4:00PM
Both sides were good winners last weekend, with the Bulldogs looking the most impressive of the two.
The Bulldogs don’t lose much this weekend since Hodkinson was benched anyway. They looked good with Josh Reynolds on the field. Also missing is the Titan’s Dave Taylor who has been given his annual wake up call down in the Queensland Cup. He will no doubt terrorise the local comp players enough for one week so he can go back to underachieving in the NRL.
MELBOURNE v PARRAMATTA MON 7:00PM
Somehow Parramatta lost their game on Monday despite leading 30-6 in the second half. The adage that sides that don’t know how to win can’t applies here as the Eels have now wasted three excellent consecutive performances by securing only two points.
Melbourne lose their usual big three to Origin, but as ever the Melbourne production line of names no one outside their fans and feeder system clubs would know continue to step up. No one does lesser known players like the Storm, and they’ll probably still have enough to win.
As long as Gurgler and Ray Warren favourite Semi Radradra scores who cares the result.
GURGLER NRL MULTI
TIGERS +10.5 start v Souths
ROOSTERS to win 1-12 v NZ
BULLDOGS to win v Gold Coast
SEMI RADRADRA to score anytime v Melbourne
$1 pays $17.
