The finals are just around the corner and with almost every club still in the hunt for a top eight berth, NRL results have simply never been more vital!
Round 19 kicks off in Sydney’s west on Thursday night and we’ll be treated to a clash between the Eels and the Broncos.
The home side have racked up some cricket scores against the Brisbane club in recent seasons, but this shapes as a far tighter clash, with a case to be made for both.
I’ve run the rule over all eight games, and you can find my complete NRL Round 19 Tips below!
An intriguing beginning to Round 19 will see the Eels take on the Broncos in Sydney’s west on Thursday night.
The Eels have been extremely unpredictable and frustrating since the beginning of the season, dropping games they shouldn’t and beating the competition leaders.
It must be an absolute chore supporting them – they promise so much and deliver little, particularly at the pointy end of the season.
The Broncos meanwhile have continued to go from strength to strength and without their Origin stars in Round 18, were still too good for the full-strength Titans.
I don’t have nearly as much between these two as the bookies seem to, and there’s great value on offer for the Broncos to win!
The Dragons will have their hands full with a rampant Daly Cherry-Evans and an improved Manly side first-up on Friday evening.
St George are another club who have been tough to place this season – they’ve done enough to hang at the edge of the eight, but they’ve been very inconsistent and certainly don’t look like anything of a premiership threat.
The Sea Eagles have won four of their last five games and were unlucky not to get there against the Cowboys as well.
Last week’s dominant win over the Knights suggested that they are beginning to rectify their ’70-minute specialists’ tag and this is a great opportunity to consolidate that.
I’m going to pump up my value with a small Same Game Multi, skewed towards the Sea Eagles.
Almost every game for the remainder of the season will be a big test for the Knights, and they’ll start outsiders in their Round 19 clash with the Roosters.
A decent half an hour of footy was forgotten when the Knights suffered another demoralising defeat in Round 18, this time to the Sea Eagles.
They are a genuine wooden spoon contender, having really only been saved by a couple of their rivals somehow being even worse.
The Roosters probably aren’t a premiership threat either this season, but they remain a class above the Knights and they put 54 points on the Dragons last weekend.
A repeat of that performance would simply see them winning again.
The Raiders can consolidate their biggest win of the season by beating the Warriors in Round 19 of the NRL.
As recently as two months ago, the Raiders looked to be down and out, a real chance of finishing last and in the process likely, signing Ricky Stuart’s unemployment certificate.
They have, however, been enormous improvers, finding themselves on the edge of the eight having beaten the Storm IN MELBOURNE in Round 18.
The Warriors were competitive against a fair Eels side in Round 18, but typically, their performance wasn’t enough to get the win, and they face a similar task this week.
I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do with a full complement of home matches in 2023, but the end of this season frankly cannot arrive quickly enough.
The Panthers continue to lead the way, and the Sharks have the unenviable task of trying to slow the train in Round 19.
All of their Origin stars were rested when they took on the Tigers in Round 18, and when considering that is almost their entire starting side, their win was even more impressive.
Virtually everyone is back this week, and now that it is full steam ahead towards the finals, expect them to be ruthless.
The Sharks remain a great chance of a top four finish, and they backed up a win over the Storm with another impressive performance and win over the Cowboys in Round 18.
These things tend to happen in threes – can they slot another win over a top four side in Round 19?
It would take a herculean effort, and I’m not sure they will.
The Storm are in a form slump, but they have opened favourites ahead of their Round 19 clash with the Bunnies in Sydney.
They have dealt with an awful lot of injuries this season and have still been better than most other clubs, but there has been a certain chink in the Storm’s armour in 2022 that we haven’t witnessed for the best part of two decades.
They certainly aren’t assured a Grand Final berth this year, and they’ll need to go to another level to make it to the final day. Hard without Ryan Papenhuyzen.
The Bunnies have been vastly improved since Latrell returned, and they were too good for a credible Bulldogs outfit in Round 18.
They have a real chance to extend the Storm’s losing streak this week, but match betting and the line concern me – it really could go either way.
In what is sure to prove sickening reading for the tens of Titans fans in existence, they’ll start outsiders against the similarly lowly Bulldogs on Sunday afternoon.
They snuck into the finals last season and were unlucky to lose to the Roosters, and the sky appeared to be the limit for Holbrook’s improving Titans in 2022.
Instead, they’ve been nothing short of terrible and regressed back to the bottom of the table.
The Dogs were similarly poor at the beginning of the year, but they have been vastly improved since Trent Barrett’s exit, winning a couple and pushing a couple of good teams all the way.
I thought there was a lot to like about last week’s effort against the Bunnies, and a repeat of that would see them winning this easily.
Betting suggests that the most one-side match of the round will also be the last, and I completely agree with the bookies.
The Cows have been excellent this year and last week’s loss to a similarly impressive Sharks outfit was surely just on account of their Origin hangover, but this is the perfect opportunity for them to bounce back.
Wests lack the talent and depth of every other NRL club, and the problems go all the way to the top of the pile.
Something needs to be done – I’m not sure this Tim Sheens/Benji Marshall idea is the answer, but I hope something changes for the sake of their long-suffering fans.
The Cows win this and win it well.