The New South Wales injury crisis gets worse, as Michael Maguire gives himself a Liverpool kiss at Origin camp
Last week I made the brave decision to guarantee a lock against Penrith, and subsequently learned why you probably shouldn't go picking against Penrith, as they positively walloped the raging in-form ladder-leading Sharks 42-0 at Shark Park, only just short of the 48-0 defeat the Panthers gave the Sharks in 2021, and just short of Cronulla's greatest defeat at Shark Park, which was the 56-10 defeat from Wests Tigers in 2009.
Another frightening reminder that Penrith will decide when they're done, and on the flip side, Cronulla's credentials as ladder leaders and premiership contenders are pretty much incinerated before our eyes, like that human sacrifice from the Temple of Doom.
Of course, the other good news is that the teams are up for Origin 1, and we saw plenty of surprises from Michael Maguire and Billy Slater, with Billy not selecting David Fifita despite his massive game against the Broncos on Sunday, and Madge has immediately shown he's got the gonads to make a big call, the first of which was dropping incumbent fullback & captain James Tedesco (The first time Teddy hasn't played an Origin game since Game 1 of 2016), succeeded as skipper by Jake Trbojevic, which means we'll have two Manly players as Origin captains (DCE captaining Queensland of course)...
Despite the fact the Sea Eagles aren't even in the Top 8.
Just on that, that's an extremely rare feat that Manly have pulled off, because there's only been 2 other instances in Origin history where both State captains came from the same club, the last coming with Adrian Lam and Brad Fittler (Sydney Roosters) from 1999 to 2000, and prior to that it was Laurie Daley and Mal Meninga (Canberra) from 1992 to 1994.
Moving on to the business of club football, and there's just the 5 games in Round 13 with the Origin byes in effect, which sees byes to the Broncos, Souths, Manly, Melbourne, the Gold Coast, the New Zealand Warriors and the Wests Tigers:
- Parramatta host Cronulla on Thursday night, and this could be the first time all season that Mitch Moses has lined up for the Eels, at the cost of one head coach, while Clint Gutherson is also back after a month out, while the Sharks manage the loss of Cam McInnes and Nico Hynes to New South Wales Origin camp... still, Nico may not even play due to injury.
- Newcastle host Canterbury in the Channel 9 Friday game, a rematch from only 6 weeks ago in Round 7, when the Berries thumped the Knights 36-12 to leave them a disheveled mess with Kalyn Ponga injured, only for the Knights to come in to Round 13 off the bye on a 4-game winning streak, while the Dogs have to manage without Matt Burton, Viliame Kikau, and Stephen Crichton due to Origin.
- Penrith host St George-Illawarra in the mountains to kick off winter, and Origin time for Penrith is pretty much what it used to be for the Brisbane Broncos during the 1990s to early 2000s, with half the starting 13 getting Origin call-ups, the only difference now is that Penrith's premiership chances don't routinely go down the tubes after the Origin break.
- The Redcliffe Dolphins host the Raiders on Saturday night, a rare chance for a team from Redcliffe to actually play in Redcliffe
- And the Sunday afternoon game has the old Paul Green Cup matchup as the Roosters host the Cowboys at Allianz Stadium, and both clubs have been smacked by Origin, with North Queensland losing both co-captains Tom Dearden and Reuben Cotter, plus Murray Taulagi, Valentine Holmes, Jeremiah Nanai & Reece Robson, while Easts have lost Lindsay Collins, Angus Crichton, Spencer Leniu & Joseph Sua'ali'i, although they do have James Tedesco available, which pushes the Cowboys out to 6/1 outsiders.
Another fun fact for that game - It's the first time the Cowboys have played at the new SFS... it's nearly been 2 years since it opened.
Alright, now for the Succinct Tips for Round 13, here we go…
ALL HOME TEAMS.
Round 12 score = 5/8
Running score after Round 12 = 61/96 (63.5%)
After a slow start to the year, I am now into the Top 14% on FootyTips... we're movin' on up.
Round 13 Lock of the Week
Because when you're right 52% of the time, you're wrong 48% of the time!
What an amazing failure from last week's Lock, which I'm dead sure is the second time this year I've made Cronulla a lock and watched as they got smoked like a pack of John Players - The other game was the Wests Tigers game at Leichhardt back in March.
Alright, this week's Lock...
Newcastle to turn into CAMELOT with the Knights on their way to victory!
On second thought, let's not go to Newcastle, 'tis a silly place.
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