Just six teams remain in the hunt for the 2020 NRL Premiership and that number will be cut to four this weekend.
The NRL Semi-Finals get underway on Friday night when the reigning champions take on the Canberra Raiders in a replay of last season’s decider, before South Sydney and Parramatta each attempt to remain alive on Saturday.
You can find a preview of both matches and our weekly NRL tips below.
What a way to kick off the 2020 NRL semi-finals.
A replay of last year’s decider, and the opportunity for the Raiders to get one back over the Roosters, a year on from their September heartache.
Will they do it?
I don’t think so.
There is no doubt that the Roosters are a shade on the side that went back-to-back in 2020, but their bottom line has still proven to be a lot better than the top line of most other clubs.
They were handed a huge wake up call by the Bunnies two weeks ago, but really can count themselves unlucky not to have beaten the minor premiers last week in a match that could have well and truly fallen either way.
The Raiders have played with heart and soul all season, particularly when considering some of the key injuries that they have had to overcome.
They’ve definitely found their best form at the right point of the campaign, and enter this match off the back of a tough performance and win over the Sharks, which saw them claw back from an early deficit.
Currently, it’s one apiece for the Raiders and the Roosters in 2020, with the latter claiming bragging rights most recently.
I think that the Roosters will win, and reasonably comfortably.
Saturday will see the Parramatta Eels host the South Sydney Rabbitohs, in what promises to be an intriguing fixture.
The Eels flew the blocks and shaped as one of the major chances earlier in the season, but they simply have not looked like a genuine premiership threat for some time now.
To their credit, they returned one of the tougher performances of their season against the Storm last week, but they were still comfortably accounted for, and that surely hasn’t done much for their confidence moving forward.
South Sydney have gone the other way.
They were alright early, dipped in form, and have come steaming back into contention with absolutely perfect timing.
The flogging of the Roosters two weeks ago was proven to be absolutely no fluke in Week 1 of the finals, as the Bunnies put 46 on the hapless Knights.
They enter this match full of running and eager to at least match last season’s Preliminary Finals berth.