We’re quickly approaching the halfway point of the 2023 NRL Premiership season and another eight games lie ahead in Round 12!
It’s already been a huge week in the Rugby League world, mainly for negative reasons.
A coach was sacked, a nation pulled out of hosting a World Cup and other things have occurred that need no reference in an NRL betting preview.
With State of Origin selections looming at the end of the weekend, it’s time for the actual football to do the talking! You can find my complete NRL Round 12 Tips below.
We’re underway in Brisbane on Thursday night with an intriguing battle between the Broncos and the Panthers.
The Broncos have obviously been good this season – they enter Round 12 second on the ladder, but they were found out a little by the Storm last week and failed to get the chocolates.
A return home is probably key to their winning chances, but they’d have to improve noticeably to knock off the reigning premiers, who themselves returned arguably their best performance of the season to destroy the Roosters last week.
That performance saw the Panthers climb back into third.
With so many of their players on trial for a Blues jersey, I’m expecting another slick effort from Ivan Cleary’s men this week.
An intriguing affair will materialise first-up on Friday when the Dragons host the Roosters in at Jubilee Stadium.
After weeks, months and to be fair, nearly a year of speculation, the Dragons have finally parted ways with coach Anthony Griffin.
Regardless of what he did this season, it was almost certainly going to happen at some point, and with axe swung, it’s onwards and upwards for both parties.
The Dragons have been pretty terrible to be fair, and they were unable to deliver captain Ben Hunt a fairytale 300th game last weekend when falling to the Cowboys in Townsville.
Tautau Moga is due to make his return for the Dragons this week, while the Roosters will have to do it without five-eighth Joey Manu, who suffered a moderate angle ligament injury against the Panthers.
I had the Roosters on top at the start of the season, but they’ve been the NRL’s biggest underperformers and they were truly horrific against the Panthers last week.
Sometimes when a club and coach part ways, the playing group has an immediate reaction, and while I don’t think the Dragons can win this, it could go down to the wire.
The Bunnies have taken top spot and will look to consolidate their position with another win over the misfiring Parramatta Eels.
They’ve been absolutely clinical recently and deservedly, the Bunnies have joined Penrith on the top line of Premiership betting after 11 rounds of footy.
The Origin period will be a good test for them, but that’s a bridge to cross next week!
The Eels’ forgettable season meanwhile rolled on with a pretty comfortable loss to the Raiders in Round 11, and there’s surely no way that they can improve enough to knock off the formed team of the competition on Friday night.
Same Game Multi selections:
- Souths to Win
- Cody Walker Anytime Try
The Sharks take on the Knights in the Shire in the first of three Saturday fixtures on Round 12 of the NRL.
Something has happened at the Sharks these last couple of weeks, but I can’t figure out what.
Firstly, it was their worst effort of the season against the Dolphins in Magic Round.
Then, in Round 11, they flew out of the gates against a bad Manly side, but were probably lucky to hold on after going to sleep at half time.
Now they line up against an unpredictable Knights team who were arguably at their best in Round 11.
Any talk of Kalyn Ponga not being in the right nick for Origin was all but put to bed when he led his club to a big win over the Titans last week, and another one here will put the Queensland fullback race to bed once and for all.
If the Sharks click, they are a class above the Knights and should win, but it does look to be a big IF after the last couple of weeks.
I’m having a crack at the upset.
West Tigers take on the North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday evening and I personally think that this is the most intriguing battle of the week!
The Tigers incredibly recorded their first win of the season over the reigning premiers three weeks ago, before repeating the dose against the Dragons.
They were held scoreless by Souths last week, but it wasn’t a completely hopeless performance against the NRL’s current benchmark.
The Cows have also recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season after following up their Magic Round triumph with a comfortable one over the Dragons last week.
I think that the Tigers might actually be going a little better than the Cows, and returning to Leichhardt Oval this week, they can win again.
To be fair, this should also be a cracker of a contest.
The ‘Phins were excellent again in Magic Round, recording their sixth win of the season and therefore covering their 5.5-game over/under line.
They return to action this week following a well-earned week off and sitting a promise sixth in overall standings.
By their own standards, the Storm have been a little hit and miss in 2023, but they did hit large last weekend with a win over the Broncos.
They are on the road this week but have a lot of fans in Brisbane, and they do have an excellent record at Suncorp.
I think that the Storm’s class will shine through in the end, but I think that this one will be a tight affair as well!
The Bulldogs and Titans clash at Homebush on the penultimate game of Round 12 of the NRL.
The Dogs are yet to completely hit their straps, but they’ve clearly been on the improve this year, and there were things to like about their performance again in Round 11, despite it being an eventual loss to the Warriors.
The Titans slipped out of the eight on for-and-against after losing to the Knights in Round 11, but they too have shown glimpses of a good footy side in 2023, and this does represent another great opportunity at two competition points.
Regardless of the result, both of these clubs boast some absolute jets, and I’m expecting there to be plenty of points!
We’re off to the nation’s capital for the final game of the week, and the Raiders will start favourites against the Sea Eagles.
I had the Raiders running about 15th this season, and while their start to the season backed up that prediction, there is no denying they’ve turned into a decent and competitive side.
Their Round 11 win over the Eels was their fifth in succession, and they’ve climbed into the eight!
The Sea Eagles, meanwhile, have experienced almost the exact opposite to the Raiders, starting well and recently, going to water.
I’m of the opinion that the Raiders probably do win this one, but the Sea Eagles did show enough in the second half of last week’s performance to suggest this might be close.