The 2019 NRL season has officially arrived and the action is underway from Thursday night.
We’ve already taken a look at all sixteen NRL teams and what we think they are capable of doing in 2019, but it’s time for action and eight games await us in Round 1.
Round 1 is always extremely difficult to analyse given player movements, fitness, availability and countless other reasons, but you can still find eight NRL Round 1 tips below.
What an absolute blockbuster to get the season underway. The Storm went within a win of taking out the whole thing again in 2018 and they’ve barely lost anything depth and talent-wise from that campaign, while the Broncos are widely expected to fight their way into this season’s decider.
The Broncos have lost players like Jordan Kahu and Josh McGuire, but they’ve picked up one of the league’s most exciting prospects in coach Anthony Siebold and his perspective could be the difference in winning the premiership.
It probably all hinges on whether or not Cam Smith has his 102-year-old chassis in winning condition, but he has always been the oldie that is capable of continually backing it up. The Storm feed of his physical and mental direction and at home, I think they’ll be too much.
At publish, the bookies can’t split them. We’re looking at $1.90 a piece for the Knights and Sharks but if you skip the fill in between this sentence and the last, you’ll see that I have in fact been able to split them.
I reckon that the Knights will be rocks or diamonds. Rocks because they could still finish last and when I say diamonds, I mean pretty cheap diamond chips that are only really good enough to sneak into the finals this season. They have recruited the talent, but everything needs to click.
The Sharks have somehow added a half of Shaun Johnson’s quality to their roster and once again, boast one of the better club backlines. Moylan goes back to fullback and Dugan to the centres, while Josh Morris adds even more pace. They will be too good for the Knights first-up.
Two of the league’s oldest clubs will square off in Sydney on Friday night and I do think that betting has this one just about right.
The Roosters probably were the benchmark all season in 2018, while Trent Robinson’s coaching performance in the decider is an example of why this remains the best sport in Australia (regardless of all the rubbish that happens off the field). They boast the best team across the paddock of any club in 2019 and it’s tough imagining a club dethroning them.
There’s no denying that Wayne Bennett was good once, but I think Souths well and truly copped the raw deal in this coach trade with Brisbane and a 2018 prelim final berth looks like being followed up with an early Mad Monday in 2019. Losing players like Angus Crichton also will not help.
This will be the first taste we’ll get of the Roosters defending their premiership, and the first taste we’ll get of the Rabbitohs blowing their chances.
I have these two clubs finishing like twelfth and last in 2019, but I really hope that means we’ll be treated to something of a competitive game in Round 1.
The Warriors always promise so much and don’t go close to delivering, while the Bulldogs really just seem to lack a lot of talent and experience and are ‘rebuilding’.
I don’t think defence will be much of a focus first-up for either side, so let’s take a look at the ‘over’ in total match points.
Wests Tigers have already had a big win by partnering with Neds for the 2019 NRL season and I think that they can open their campaign in the best way possible by beating an understrength Manly side in front of the Leichardt faithful on Saturday evening.
Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall are both locks to start and while they are missing Moses Mbye, they harbour a young and versatile backline. Corey Thompson will fill the void.
I am quietly optimistic that Manly can make the finals this season, on the return of prodigal son Des Hasler alone. Tom Trbojevic is more vital to their make up than meat in a pie, however and he won’t be there for them this weekend.
The Tigers are too short in head-to-head betting, but there’s more to be found the further you dig.
This looks like being one of the better games in Round 1 and there is a case to be made for both the Cowboys and Dragons drawing first blood at the expense of the other.
JT wasn’t great last season, but he’s gone for good now and it’s up to everyone else. The load needs to be shared further than Michael Morgan and Jason Taumalolo and if either of them goes down at any point of the season, I think they’re cooked.
The Dragons meanwhile were unlucky not to make the final four in 2018 and I think they’ve got plenty of upside. They are another club with quality across the paddock and they would not look out of place in a decider.
A top four chance plays a wooden spoon chance in Round 1’s penultimate game and it’s tough imagining any result materialising, other than a comfortable Penrith victory.
The Eels have continued to live up to the widely-held belief that they are a basket case and while this does look like being a reasonably open NRL season, they are surely no chance of reversing anyone’s opinion.
The line is more than achievable for this star-studded Panthers side.
The Neds Gold Coast Titans launch their season at home against the Canberra Raiders on Sunday and look like one of the bets of the round.
An outstanding recruitment drive has delivered the Titans one of the best forward packs in the league, while the addition of Tyrone Peachey has strengthened a very credible backline. The Raiders’ hopes rest on Josh Hodgson pretty much doing everything and they will find it difficult in the Queensland humidity.
Get down to the Gold Coast on Sunday to see Darryl Braithwaite and the first of what is sure to be many Titans victories in 2019.