Suddenly, it’s Round 15 of the abridged 2020 NRL season and time is beginning to run out for several clubs as the finals quickly approach.
The week is underway in style again on Thursday night, as the Eels and Storm jostle for a better position in the top four, before the Panthers look to consolidate their place at the top with a win over the Sharks.
Several other potentially crucial clashes are on the schedule and you can find a preview for each, as well as my NRL Round 15 tips below.
Another Thursday night, another outstanding way to begin the NRL week.
The Eels remain third in overall standings but have only just scraped home to win several times recently, and suffered a well overdue defeat at the hands of an inconsistent Dragons outfit in Round 14.
This is a big rise in class for them and they would need to improve tenfold to win.
The Storm are undefeated since Round 7 and enter this match off the back of one of, if not their best performance of the season.
For a club that has been missing several stars, including Cam Smith, they have continued to perform to a freakishly high standard, which bodes extremely well for them not only this year, but moving forward.
I cannot believe that they have been priced as $2.30 outsiders and I personally couldn’t take that quote quickly enough.
The competition leaders are in action first-up on Friday and an intriguing match with the Cronulla Sharks looms.
The Panthers have still suffered just the one defeat in 2020 and while they weren’t particularly convincing in Round 14’s win over the Warriors, two points is two points, and it’s onwards and upwards in Round 15.
The Sharks meanwhile have found a nice vein of form of their own, and they are probably unlucky not to have won each of their last five games.
Their last hefty loss interestingly came at the hands of the Panthers in Round 9, and I personally think that adds just a little bit more spice to this game.
It would require a season-best performance to win, but I think there is merit to the Sharks’ case here, and I am happy to take them at an 8.5-point line as outsiders.
Literally every week, I hear several people say ‘this is a danger game’ for whoever the team is playing against the Broncos.
Last week, they had the Raiders in their sights when heading into the break 8-6 up, but as has also become the case literally every week, they went to water in the second half and were ultimately delivered a hefty defeat.
The Dragons farewelled Mary McGregor with their toughest performance of the season so far – a gritty win over the Parramatta Eels, and they will be understandingly full of confidence as a result.
That win lifted them back to within striking range of the eight, and with other results going their way this week, they will be right on the cusp by winning this.
Evidently, the Broncos are never going to be completely abandoned in betting and I am more than happy to continue going back to this honey hole week-in, week-out.
We’re back to the Gold Coast on Saturday afternoon for what is sure to be a competitive game between the Titans and the Raiders.
Round 14 saw the Titans produce another tough, NRL-worthy performance, and if not for one incident at a crucial point of the game, they could very well have won.
Their form through the last five or six weeks has been vastly improved, and prospects are bright for 2021.
The Raiders were on the ropes at half time of their Round 14 clash with the Broncos, but they didn’t panic and were rewarded for an improved second forty, but also by the apparent inability of that opponent to win a footy game.
Obviously, the Raiders their deserve favouritism, but they are massively under the odds at $1.25 and the Titans can give them a serious challenge.
Wests Tigers face a difficult task in recording their second win in succession when they line up opposite the reigning premiers on Saturday evening.
At times it wasn’t pretty, but the Tigers broke their month-long winless streak with a 29-28 win over the last-placed Bulldogs in Round 14.
Meanwhile, it wasn’t pretty at all for the Roosters in Round 14.
A comfortable loss to fellow title contenders the Storm was bad enough, but even more injuries to their already hefty casualty ward was nothing short of insulting.
As much as we here at Neds love the Wests Tigers, the line is set at just 6.5 points and the Roosters bottom line is still noticeably better than most other clubs.
Souths and Manly will step out in Saturday night’s primetime slot.
Both sides contested absolute nail-biters in Round 14, but Souths were the only side to scrape home with a victory, and they take all the momentum into this clash.
That was their third win in succession and ultimately consolidated their position in the top eight.
The Sea Eagles looked like winning, then didn’t, then looked like winning, then didn’t in their clash with the Knights.
Worryingly, they are now two wins adrift of the eight and simply need Tom Trbojevic back in the side, if they are any chance of sneaking in.
I’m not totally convinced by the Bunnies, while the Sea Eagles seem to be keeping their best performances for the matches when absolutely nothing is expected of them.
For those reasons, I’m staying away from head-to-head and line betting.
Ladder positioning doesn’t, but betting suggests that one of the better games of Round 15 will materialise between the Dogs and the Warriors on Sunday afternoon.
To their credit, these two clubs have (for the most part) put in for the full eighty week-in, week-out since we returned to action, they simply lack the class and depth of most other clubs.
Canterbury can certainly count themselves unlucky to have lost by a single point in Round 14, and there is certainly a case to be made for them in this.
Like the Titans, I firmly believe they are a club with bright prospects in 2021, so long as Trent Barrett has learned from his time at Manly.
The Warriors fought all the way in their match with the competition-leading Panthers, and a repeat would surely see them winning this.
Round 15 draws to a close in the Hunter on Sunday evening, and the Knights will be offered another great opportunity at points when the down and out Cowboys arrive in town.
While they still have plenty of work ahead if they are to join that truly elite echelon of clubs at the top, the Knights have been a little easier to trust in 2020 and more often than not, have done enough to win.
I’ve said it a few times now, but the end of the season cannot come quickly enough for the Cowboys, and even with last week’s single-point loss to the Bunnies fresh in the memory, it’s hard to make a case for them in this.
An 8.5-point line seems generous for the Cowboys and if they are a legitimate title contender, the Knights should have that covered comfortably.