Round 13 of the NRL boasts eight exciting fixtures, highlighted by a few potentially crucial clashes.
It all begins in Wollongong on Thursday night when the Dragons host the Roosters.
South Sydney will be the next club offered a ‘soft kill’ against the Broncos on Friday night, before the Panthers and Raiders contest a Saturday night classic.
I’ve run the rule over all eight games, and you can find a preview of each along with my NRL Round 13 tips below.
Thursday night marks the beginning of Round 13 and the reignition of this historic rivalry between the Dragons and the Roosters.
The Dragons are becoming an extremely difficult team to line up.
At least when they were awful at the start of the season, you could set your watch to them, but they actually now promise a bit and are rocks or diamonds.
Case in point, their 80-minute performance in Round 12.
The flew out of the blocks and should have the result all but sewn up, but then fell apart almost as quickly as they stepped and ultimately lost to South Sydney.
They clearly face another big step up in class this week and they simply cannot afford to go to sleep, at any point.
The Roosters (for their usual lofty standards) are in something of a form slump, but even that is too good form most other clubs to overcome.
I’m expecting a more polished performance from the Roosters this week and they can cover a 12.5-point line.
An intriguing contest between the Sea Eagles and Warriors looms at Brookvale Oval first-up on Friday.
The Warriors bounced back into the winner’s stall with a tough performance against Wests Tigers in Round 12 and will take confidence into this game.
The loss of five-eighth Blake Green is enormous, however and cannot be understated.
Sure, the Warriors have barely been convincing in 2020, but there is no doubt that Green pulled the strings when they have been competitive, and I think there is every chance they’ll now be one-dimensional.
What keeps them in this contest is the fact that Manly are still without Turbo, and added the likes of Dylan Walker, Curtis Sironen and Brad Parker to the casualty ward last week.
The Sea Eagles probably should still win, but the Warriors can finish within 12.5 points.
South Sydney are offered an excellent opportunity to make it two wins in a row when they host the lowly Brisbane Broncos in Friday night’s primetime slot.
It would have been a sickening watch for the Bunnies fans in the first 20 of their Round 12 clash with the Dragons but boy, did they show some spirit to fight back into the contest and ultimately ice the result.
The Broncos meanwhile have lost the will, the desire, and the ability to win a game of footy.
They showed glimpses of their old selves in Round 12’s clash with the Sharks, but you could actually pinpoint the moment they realised they were a winning chance, and they fell to pieces.
Something is broken and irretrievable, and I simply don’t know who they possibly beat in 2020.
Betting suggests that the most one-sided game of the round comes up first thing on Saturday afternoon, when the Storm do battle with the Bulldogs on the Sunshine Coast.
The Melbourne Storm have climbed into second position heading into Round 12 and boy, have they been clinical.
They once again proved too strong for an improved Newcastle side last week and they are one of the few clubs that never underestimate an opponent.
That will be key in their success against the last-placed Bulldogs, who themselves have been excellent these last couple of weeks.
A rare win over the Knights two back was almost franked when they took the Parramatta Eels the whole way in Round 12, falling two agonizing points short of what would have been the upset of the season.
The line looks to be around the right mark (15.5 points), so I’m going to stay away from.
One of the better contests of the round looks like materialising between the Knights and West Tigers in Newcastle on Saturday evening.
The Knights haven’t won for a couple of weeks now, and it has really called into question their legitimacy.
To their credit, they’ve lost a couple of key players to injury and have still be reasonably competitive.
They’ll be confident of bouncing back this week and probably rightly so.
Wests too have fallen out of form recently, culminating in a particularly disappointing loss to the Warriors in Round 12.
They’ve dropped out of the eight and unfortunately, have scope to fall further down the order.
With the likes of Pearce and Ponga still in tow and the addition of Blake Green this week, I’m happy to back the Knights to get things back on track.
The competition leaders are in action against the resurgent Raiders at the foot of the mountains on Saturday night.
What a contest this promises to be.
The Panthers were given a scare by the lowly Cowboys, but they have since been outstanding.
Last week’s demolition of the Sea Eagles consolidated their position at the top and another big win over fellow top eight side Canberra would a real statement.
The Raiders had every right to fall off a cliff with some of the players that they have lost but instead, they’ve rallied hard and gone the other way.
Last week’s win over the Cows was their third in succession, adding to a huge win over the reigning premiers and South Sydney.
They are by no means going to lie down and let Penrith run all over them, but nothing less than a season-best performance will be required for Canberra to win this.
A Queensland Derby comes up first on Saturday when the Gold Coast Titans (proudly sponsored by Neds) host the North Queensland Cowboys.
They haven’t won since Round 9, but the Titans have also been tasked with facing the three best teams in the league these last few weeks and have taken both the Panthers and the Roosters all the way, most recently.
There is no doubt that this represents their best opportunity to win for some time.
The Cowboys are winless since Round 7, but they have also produced some fair performances of late and were perhaps unlucky not to get the W over the Raiders last week.
We’re proud of what the boys have done recently, and I am more than happy to be with Titans to win.
Round 13 concludes at Kogarah with an interesting game between the Sharks and Eels.
The Sharks were given a real fight by the down and out Broncos last week (for 70 minutes at least), but ultimately did enough to get the points.
For mine, securing the points against the Broncos is all you really need to do this season, then forget about the game, how scrappy it likely was, and move on with it.
The Eels meanwhile were given a real scare by the last-placed Bulldogs, but also did enough to scrape home with the win.
This looms as a terrific opportunity for both clubs.
For the Sharks, a win would mean a consolidated position in the eight and also the confidence gained by beating a top club, while for the Eels, a win would keep the ship sturdy and powering towards the finals.
Happy to take Cronulla to cover a 7.5-point line as the outsiders.