Origin 1 is just around the corner, and that means that we’ve arrived at our first split round of the season, and just four matches will be contested!
The Round 13 action gets underway on the Gold Coast on Thursday night, when the Cowboys start clear favourites against a Titans side that has seemingly forgotten how to win.
The Panthers take on the Bulldogs, and will start clear favourites despite the enormous number players they’ll be missing through Origin, before the Sea Eagles host the Warriors on Saturday, and the Raiders play the Roosters on Sunday.
Check out my complete NRL Round 13 Tips below.
The Titans have been typically frustrating throughout the 2022 NRL season, and they’ll face another tough task against the Cowboys this week.
They had the Broncos on the ropes in Round 12, leading by four tries at the break, but they completely went to sleep in the second half, in what I thought was more of a commentary on how they are going, rather than how good the Broncos are.
The Cowboys also suffered a disappointing defeat last week, but it was at the hands of the Panthers, and this is obviously a huge drop in class for them.
Regardless, I am concerned about the depth of talent that they Cowboys have lost to Origin, and while this probably makes me look like a sadist, I’m backing the Titans.
An understrength Penrith host a terrible Canterbury side in Friday night footy.
The Panthers have probably gone to another level this year, which is hard to believe given how good they were on the way to a premiership in 2021. That being said, they’ve lost an incredible number of players to Origin, and they didn’t cope particularly well under similar circumstances last year.
The Bulldogs are at full ‘strength’ (strength for lack of a better term), and they should therefore be a little shorter in the market, in my opinion.
The Panthers still deserve favouritism, but I think that they Dogs can finish within a 9.5-point line.
The Sea Eagles host the Warriors on Saturday, in what shapes as another intriguing contest that is tough to analyse.
The Sea Eagles are without Turbo for the remainder of the season, which is obviously an enormous blow to their top eight credentials, but they will also be without DCE this week, which is an enormous blow to their immediate credentials.
The Warriors have been impossible to line up all season, and they are often competitive in games that they shouldn’t be, and lose games that they should win.
I think that both clubs are a chance of winning, so I am going to stay away from head-to-head and the line, and instead look to a couple of try scorers.
The best match of the round looks like being kept for last, the Raiders will be eager to continue their competitive run of form when they take on the Roosters.
They were down and out a month ago, but the Raiders were the NRL’s big improvers in May, and despite losing in Round 12, I thought that they were still pretty good. They will be without Jack Wighton and Josh Papalii for this clash, and I think that could be telling.
The Roosters’ depth of talent is amongst the best in the NRL, and they’ll will be without Daniel Tupou, James Tedesco and Linsday Collins this week. They’ve underperformed in 2022, but it’s also fair to say that they have been on the improve recently, and last week’s win of the Sharks was amongst their best performances of the season.
I think that the Roosters will just be too good again.