By the time that Round 20 of the NRL kicks off, State of Origin will be in the books for another season!
Three clubs are on the bye in Round 20 and that means that seven games will be contested from Friday night, when the Knights take on the Tigers in the Hunter.
There’s plenty to look forward to, including intriguing matches between the Sea Eagles & Cowboys, Eels & Titans and as always, plenty of winners to be found!
Read on to my complete NRL Round 20 Tips below.
The Knights take on the Tigers in Round 20’s only Friday fixture and unsurprisingly, the market suggests it’s going to be one-sided.
The Tigers looked to be slowly finding form after a couple of listless months at the beginning of the season, but that is all but a distant memory and boy, have they been dealt some horrific defeats recently.
None worse than that 74-0 thrashing at the hands of the Cowboys a fortnight ago, and they really will find every game remaining on their calendar to be a difficult one.
I still find it really difficult to trust the Knights, but not against the Tigers.
Speaking of one-sided affairs, another one looks almost certain to materialise first up on Saturday when the Dogs host the Broncos at Belmore.
The Dogs’ slow improvement also looked to have hit a dead end, but they were able to take advantage of an Origin-ravaged South Sydney in Round 19 and snuck home for the win.
Facing a Broncos’ side who will welcome back most, if not all of their Origin stars this week, it’s clearly a completely different kettle of fish.
Not a lot more to say about the Broncos, other than they need to be easily winning games like this one if they are a Premiership threat.
One of the more interest games in Round 20 takes us to the Northern Beaches on Saturday evening and sees the Sea Eagles take on the resurgent Cowboys.
Six weeks ago, the Sea Eagles would have started this pretty firm favourites in the market, but boy has the Origin period done wonders for the Cows, and they are now arguably the form team of the league!
They’ll need their Origin stars, but they are justifiable favourites again.
Manly also obviously require DCE and Jake Trbojevic to back up from Origin, but if they do, I give them a red-hot chance of pulling of the upset.
I’m expecting it to go right down to the wire, and with that in mind, I think that the value lies in backing the Sea Eagles to cover the line as outsiders.
The action continues in Sydney on Saturday night when the Roosters take on the Storm.
Sparks always fly when these two clubs go head-to-head, and with former Storm hooker the Cheese looking fit and ready to fire against his former club, we could be in for an absolute classic!
The Roosters have been the biggest disappointment of the 2023 NRL season for mine, but if they can find a bit of consistent form, they are still a chance of fighting into the finals.
A scalp as big as the Storm would do wonders for them, but I’m just not sure they’re up to it in current nick. I do think they’ll be competitive for a lot of it though.
Betting suggests the standout contest of Round 20 comes up between the Wahs and the Sharks on Sunday afternoon, and it’s really not hard to see why!
The Warriors bounced back into dominant winning form at the expense of the Eels in Round 20, and they’ll take plenty of confidence, along with a full-strength team back to Mt Smart.
The Sharks meanwhile haven’t been nearly as lethal recently as they were last year or early on this campaign, but they did obviously prove too good for the Tigers in Round 19.
All things considered, I can’t find the winner, and I am going to stay away from match betting and the line.
Each of the last six matches played by the Warriors in Auckland have gone under the total match points line, so that’s where I’m looking!
The Phins just managed to sneak past an understrength Titans outfit in Round 19, and things get a whole lot harder when they take on the reigning premiers in Round 20.
Was their early season form a flash in the pan?
The last six weeks or so have probably suggested so, though the Dolphins have been forced to deal with some pretty substantial injury blows as well.
Ivan Cleary will no doubt welcome the end of the Origin period, and it’s full steam ahead towards another finals campaign and a crack at a hat-trick of Premierships!
Parramatta were missing plenty of stars in their Round 19 loss, but so too were the Titans, and I think this is going to be an absolutely ripping game of footy.
The Eels have continued to improve as the season has progressed, and I am happy to put a line through last week’s effort without the likes of Moses, Gutho and RCG.
Likewise the Titans, they’re really beginning to look like a credible side, and they were unlucky not to do it last week without Fifita, Tino, Fotuaika and Brimmo.
If this was on the Coast, I’d be taking the value on offer for the Titans to upset, but in the west of Sydney, I’m just going to take the line.