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Wednesday, July 3, 2024
JT’s Succinct NRL Tips: Round 18, 2024
On we trot to Round 18 of the season, TRY JULY begins as we go back to the glory of 8 games a round, and last week was all about Trent Robinson coaching his 300th game for the Roosters, and yesterday another well-known Robbo was in the news, as Canterbu…
On we trot to Round 18 of the season, TRY JULY begins as we go back to the glory of 8 games a round, and last week was all about Trent Robinson coaching his 300th game for the Roosters, and yesterday another well-known Robbo was in the news, as Canterbury's 2-time premiership winning forward Geoff Robinson died aged 66 after struggling with throat & tongue cancer for several years.
They said Ronald Reagan helped knock down the Berlin Wall, and Geoff Robinson knocked down Peter Sterling and the Parramatta Wall.
Another cult hero departs.
Another highlight of the week was that one-time NRL 360 talking head Paul Kent was flicked off by Fox League prior to being found guilty of affray in the legendary brawl with some "Doghead" in Rozelle in April, which started with 21 schooners at the Sackville Hotel, and ended with Kenty being flung into a tree.
"Price accepted Kent had both alcohol use disorder and a major depressive disorder, but said community safety and deterrence meant he was to be dealt with under the law – not mental health legislation."
Now, let's remember that Paul Kent once said this about players and mental health, as is mentioned in the same SMH article:
"Now all the dickheads in the world simply claim their dickhead behaviour is a mental welfare issue and it immediately makes them no longer accountable for their dickhead actions."
I guess that doesn't make Paul a dickhead... it makes him a HYPOCRITICAL DICKHEAD.
Also, if you ask me, the Rozelle tree should take Kenty's old spot on NRL 360, then they can call it NRLTree60.
Moving to the serious stuff, and the post-Origin weekends continue to shake up the ladder, with the Melbourne Storm now having a 2-game advantage at the top of the ladder as Penrith splutter along until Nathan Cleary comes back, while the Sharks spurn several great chances to lock up a Top 2 spot due to Nicho Hynes undergoing repeated psychological torture every game, the Dolphins are up and down, the Broncos are pretty much glue, and the Roosters & Bulldogs are still hanging around.
On that note, here's Round 18
- Thursday night is Cripple Fight Night as the Eels host the Rabbitohs in another duel of the Bottom 4 teams, and by virtue of losing a close game to the Knights, the Eels managed to escape last place on the ladder when the Wests Tigers were smashed by the Roosters on Sunday night, while the Rabbits come in well rested with Latrell Mitchell and Cameron Murray back in.
- The early Friday night game has Cronulla hosting the Gold Coast in the annual visit to Coffs Harbour, and in the city known for the Big Banana, Cronulla are bringing a halfback playing like a big lemon, and the Titans need to find someone who can replace Jayden Campbell's 26 points per game.
- The feature Channel 9 Friday game is the second Grand Final rematch between the Broncos and Panthers, with both teams bringing back their Origin players after sitting out Round 17, in which their teammates were turned to water by the Warriors and Cowboys respectively.
- The Bulldogs host the Warriors at the Olympic Stadium, with both teams bouncing straight back into the winners circle last week, and this is a beautiful chance for the Bulldogs to end a very long losing run against the Wahs, with their last win against the visitors being a 1-point win (27-26) back in Round 23 of 2018, the winning drop goal coming via Lachlan Lewis on his birthday with 90 seconds left.
- The Wests Tigers host the runaway leaders the Melbourne Storm (with Ryan Papenhuyzen back) at Leichhardt, and I would note that last week was the Tigers' 600th NRL game as a merged entity... evidently the Tigers themselves stopped caring after 456.
- Scientists are struggling to explain the performances of the North Queensland Cowboys this year, and this week they come off a win against the Panthers and slot their 6 Origin players straight back into the starting 13, and they host Manly up in Townsville, with the visitors in a similar position as they regain 3 Origin players (Olakau'atu, Cherry Evans & Jake Trbojevic), Reuben Garrick and Tom Trbojevic are both back from injury, and Josh Aloiai is back from suspension.
- Having signed Chad Townsend, the Roosters host the Dragons at Allianz in the ANZAC Day rematch, and it's easy to see how the Roosters can hold the No.1 attack in rugby league when you remember they put 60 points on the Dragons on April 25, plus the lazy 40 they put up last Sunday...
In fact, Easts have now scored more points in 16 games (480) than they did in 24 last season (472).
- And lucky last, the Raiders host the Knights in a Round 1 rematch, as Ricky Stuart goes off about some odd refereeing decision last week in Melbourne, and the big news for the Knights is that Kalyn Ponga is back in the team at fullback, as this match could be described as a remake of Little Britain... Will Pryce and Kai Pearce-Paul for the Knights, and Elliott Whitehead and Morgan Smithies for the Raiders.
Fun fact - Elliott Whitehead was coached by Will Pryce's father Leon at West Bowling in England, then played alongside him at Catalans Dragons during the early 2010s!
And now for the Succinct NRL Tips for Round 18, here we go for 4/8…
Round 17 Score = 4/7
Running score after Round 17 = 76/128 (59.4%)
Zigged when I should've zagged last week... I think I flicked back between the Broncos and Warriors three times and went wrong on the Broncos, then balanced it out by taking the Dragons because I figured the Hammer wouldn't play for the Dolphins... right on that one.
Lock of the Week
The lock that hands the key to the opposition and watches it get picked.
Despite having 2 Cowboys players marched to the bin, the Panthers could only come up with 6 points at home, and the excuse of having Origin players out is relatively rubbish, because the Cowboys had 6 players out, plus the two Sin Bins, and still found a way to win by two scores.
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