It’s the final week of the 2018 NRL regular season and there is still plenty of movement that can be made as the top eight clubs scramble for a home final.
The action is underway on Thursday night when Souths attempt to stem a losing run of form against Wests, before two potentially crucial matches are played in New Zealand and Melbourne on Friday night.
We’ll farewell Johnathan Thurston on the Gold Coast on Saturday evening, while the regular season will officially end in Brisbane on Sunday when the Broncos and Sea Eagles do battle.
South Sydney can secure a top four finish by defeating Wests Tigers in the final round of the NRL regular season.
It’s been a glittering campaign for the Bunnies, who find themselves in with a real shot of securing another famous premiership in 2018. Their form has been a little shaky recently, however and they have lost their three most-recent games. Last weekend’s meeting with the Raiders was an extremely winnable game for the foundation club but they can re-gather a little confidence heading into the finals by winning this one.
Wests remained in the hunt for a finals berth as recently as two weeks ago, but there is now little to play for. They were lucky to scrape past a pretty terrible Manly outfit last weekend and realistically, they are deserving of their underdog tag leading into Round 25.
The Warriors will attempt to secure a home final when they host the Raiders across the ditch on Friday. A win could very well set up a replay of last weekend’s meeting and comfortable win over the Panthers.
The Warriors have been big improvers in 2018 despite a reasonably inconsistent campaign that has really only seen them sneak into the finals. The addition of Blake Green has really steadied the ship and the open nature of this season’s top eight really sets them up for a run towards the final Sunday of the year.
The Raiders have been out of finals contention for some time, but they continued to ruin the party for other clubs by registering a comfortable win over Souths last weekend. They have typically been better in the nation’s capital than they have been on the road and they face a task in overcoming the Warriors here.
Both the Storm and Panthers are confirmed to make this season’s finals, but this could prove to be one of the more one-sided fixtures in the final week of the regular season.
The Storm took a big step towards securing another minor premiership by scraping past a spirited Titans outfit in Week 24 and a repeat of those late heroics would see them comfortable winners over a Penrith side that is on a massive slide.
The Panthers’ season was almost certainly decided when they chose to part way with coach Anthony Griffin despite sitting fourth and only weeks out from the finals, and comfortable losses to the Knights and Warriors in the wake have more than underlined that. They are a team playing with no confidence and they look likely to be the Week 1 ‘easy beats’ for whichever club is lucky enough to draw them.
The Storm should be winning this game and winning well. They can cover a line that looks pretty small in the process (6.5 points).
Newcastle are primed to end their season on a high when they host an extremely out-of-sorts St George on Saturday.
The Dragons suffered another heavy defeat in Round 24; their fourth in five weeks and they face a huge task in reversing their form enough to be competitive in the finals. What was perhaps most worrying about last week’s 38-0 defeat is that they had no answers at all for the Bulldogs, who have never looked like playing finals football in 2018 and who have had barely anything to play for.
The Knights were simply outclassed by a Sharks side that could very well win the premiership this season, in Round 24. Regardless of their turbulent season, they remain a club that plays with plenty of heart and that was on show two weeks ago when they comfortably beat the Panthers in Penrith.
I am confident that the Knights can end their season on a high, while also making it harder for the Dragons.
The Titans will attempt to spoil the party when they play host to the Cowboys and future immortal Johnathan Thurston, who will be stepping out for the final time in a North Queensland jersey.
JT has broken countless records throughout his illustrious career for club, state and country and he will surely go down as one of the best players to ever grace a rugby league field. Disappointingly, he and his club have not been able to put it together in 2018 despite making last season’s decider and this will be his emotional final appearance.
The Titans will be full of confidence leading into this game after going within minutes and two points of delivering the Storm an upset defeat in Round 24. Obviously, it is all too little, too late and focus is firmly on the 2019 campaign.
Surely the Rugby League gods will be looking over Thurston and the Cowboys can register one final win for their best-ever player.
The Eels’ extremely disappointing season will officially end when they host the Roosters on Saturday night.
Expected to be a top-four player at the beginning of the season, Parramatta failed to make any impact at all and will almost certainly finish last after suffering a heavy defeat to the Cowboys in last weekend’s battle for the spoon.
The Roosters have seemingly squandered their opportunity at winning the minor premiership by losing their two most-recent games to the Raiders and Broncos respectively, but they remain a live chance of making and winning the decider and they can get their campaign back on track by beating the Eels.
The Roosters probably over the odds at $1.25 and they can cover a line currently set at 11.5 points.
The Bulldogs will attempt to throw one final campaign off track when they meet the Sharks in their last fixture of the 2018 NRL season.
Their extremely slow start has ultimately cost the Bulldogs a place in the finals and they have actually been one of the league’s better clubs in recent weeks. They drove another nail into the coffin of St George when striding away to a 38-0 win last weekend and they will take confidence into this game with a tougher opponent.
The Sharks have found rare form at the right point of the year and they loom as a leading contender for this season’s premiership, heading into the final week of the regular season. Regardless of where their opponents sit on the table, this will be a real test for Cronulla and a win would surely add more to their already inflated confidence.
I am confident that the Sharks will win this game, but the Dogs are good enough to cover a six-point line.
A top-four finish could be on the cards for the Broncos when they host the Sea Eagles in the final game of the NRL regular season on Sunday afternoon.
The Broncos have not had their most consistent season on record and they’ve been dealing with plenty of off-field dramas, but they have still done enough to scrape into the finals and they really do look like a club that is building in form at the perfect time for a successful run to the decider. They will rest hooker Andrew McCullough for this game, who was left unconscious after a sickening collision with Dylan Napa in his side’s win over the Roosters last weekend.
The Sea Eagles will welcome the end of a disappointing campaign but will need to produce some of their best football of the season, if they aren’t to be completely played off the park in Round 25. They do have a decent record in Brisbane recently and won at Suncorp Stadium earlier in 2018.
The line is currently set at 9.5 points and regardless of their shaky form, I’m confident that Manly can go close.