Round 6 of the NRL spans five action-packed days and there simply isn’t a better way to spend the Easter long weekend.
It’s unsurprising to see the Storm and Roosters occupy first and second on the ladder respectively, but I’m not even sure that Ricky Stuart thought the Raiders would be a very solid third after five Rounds. The Green Machine can add another to the tally when they host “Premiership threats” *cough* the Brisbane Broncos on Sunday afternoon.
Two last-start losers will step out in the Shire on Thursday night and I’m not talking about the couple from that god-awful attempt at a reality show a few years ago.
Let’s be fair – most clubs are going to be able to be forgiven for losing to the Roosters this season and the Sharks did show a bit of backbone to score three consolation tries, despite being down 30-0. If nothing else, the for-and-against looks a bit better than it otherwise would have.
Absolutely no shame in becoming the first club to be beaten by the might and power of the Neds Gold Coast Titans this season, but the Panthers are in absolute shambles and it’s already getting to the point of another premiership-less season. Up Up Cronulla and Up Up my weekend punting wallet.
I thought that I was on for the steal of the season when I backed the Bulldogs to beat the Dragons last week and boy, don’t I look ridiculous. Credit where it’s due; the Dragons were good. But deary me, 40-4 good!? No. The win over the Tigers and great performance against the Storm clearly scared the Dogs into thinking they’d be up for a later-than-anticipated Mad Monday, because they literally came up with nothing.
The Rabbitohs atoned for their Round 4 loss to the Sea Eagles by beating the Warriors, but that result was surely a foregone conclusion and they did still manage to leak four converted tries. If they happen to come up against a Bulldogs side that doesn’t resemble the local under 10 dingoes, they could be surprised.
Both clubs need to tighten the screws, but there’s an obvious class difference here.
Match of the round, of the season so far, a grand final rematch and very likely to be a preview of the 2019 decider. If you were able to get your head around all of that in one go, excellent job – your prize is this outstanding meeting between the Storm and Roosters on Friday night.
Typically, the Storm are the only side that remains undefeated after five rounds of footy, but they’ve been given a real contest in the last couple of weeks and easily face the toughest task of their season here.
I don’t think that there’s a better way to describe the Roosters than ‘just going through their gears’ and I like how Trent Robinson put it after the win over the Sharks – “I thought we were playing some high-quality, high-end plays in periods and I thought we played some poor part. I would have said that there was 40 minutes of high-end footy there and 40 minutes of average footy from us.” Obviously, this requires closer to 80 minutes of high-end footy, but I think that they’re up to it.
I froth for the Latrell Mitchell vs Will Chambers contest and given his side is set to start as favourites, perhaps there’s even an opportunity for Chambers to come out on top for once.
Both clubs were far more competitive in Round 5, but I fear what we could be in for when the Cowboys jump the ditch to play the Warriors on Saturday afternoon.
The Warriors have so-far been the club ruining form lines for everyone. They’ve won two and suffered three defeats; two were hideous thrashings, but the other was a credible performance that saw them finish within a try of Souths. Given what we’re trying to do here, there is nothing worse than form that is that erratic.
The Cows tried hard against the Storm and for a little while, they starved Cam Smith of the points required to take top spot away from Hazem El Masri. Ultimately, they couldn’t withstand the pressure of the game’s longest-serving veteran or his team and fell a try on the wrong side.
I’m guessing that it is solely because they’re playing at home, but I can’t make sense of the Warriors being such resounding favourites and I’d prefer to get around the value.
One of the more intriguing contests of the week will see the sixth-place Sea Eagles travel to the home of the seventh-placed Dragons. One of the thirty stadiums that St George lays claim to, that is.
Both clubs are seeking a fourth-consecutive win in Round 6, but they’ve gone about reaching this point in completely different ways. Last week’s spanking of the Dogs really franked the two single-points wins for the Dragons, while Manly have continued to find and have arguably built better momentum than this week’s rivals, and they will be quietly confident of doing it all again.
Absolutely going out on a limb here, but the Sea Eagles have saluted for us as pretty clear outsiders the last three weeks and I’m happy to continue riding the wave until they give me a reason not to.
How about those NEDS GOLD COAST TITANS!? We had faith and they didn’t let us down. A very strong, very impressive performance and they showed plenty of spine to withstand some credible passages of play by the more heavily-fancied Panthers. The new combinations really look like they’re starting to gel Michael Gordon was an absolute marksman with the boot.
As expected, the Knights didn’t have the answers for Manly and they face a tough task in reversing their form on the road, and against a team that is absolutely flying. Things are beginning to look a little bleak for the Novocastrians, who have started as favourites more often than not and have managed only the one win.
For the first time this season the Titans are set to start favourites and I think that the market has just about got this one right.
If you are a Broncos fan and you’ve already gotten past the ‘the NRL has an in for us’ and ‘the better team was robbed tonight’ phases, you’d surely be pretty bloody worried by this point. They’ve bottled some absolute sitters so far and it only gets harder when they travel to the nation’s capital on Sunday to take on the in-form Raiders. From the perspective of a fan who got about as close to a playing career as Anne Frank, it seems to me that leadership and direction are the problems. It’s said nearly every week, but the team on paper is rock-solid, but they look one-dimensional and amateurish when they actually step out.
Enough of that, let’s focus on the positives here – namely, the Canberra Raiders. Love him or hate him, Ricky is (so far) doing a job this season and last weekend’s 19-0 win over the Eels was just another example of it. They are justifiable favourites to win and look a nice fold for a multi.
Wests bounced back in a big way last week but regardless of that, they’ve been priced as outsiders. Seems like they’re going to be that one club that is always forgotten in the market and I am more than happy for that to be the case, particularly when they come up against a side like the Parramatta Eels.
Both clubs enter Round 6 with a 3-2 record and I guess that both clubs have claims on winning this, but the Eels inability to even get on the scoreboard against the Raiders last week was quite concerning. Transversely, the Tigers made even weak chances count (I’m specifically thinking about the match winner whereby the Broncos made Michael Chee Kam look like a young Greg Inglis).
I personally think that this game was the perfect opportunity for $1.91 each side, so happy to take the Tigers at even money.