JT's Succint NRL Tips: Round 21, 2024

By JTithers on July 24, 2024

It's good to see that gender equality in rugby league is now so great that even NRLW players are getting charged with assault

Ahead of the return of the NRLW season this week, Parramatta player Kate Fallon seemingly had a dispute with a young food delivery driver about taking someone else's $70 succulent Chinese meal, then proceeded to give the driver an alleged thumping.

According to false eyewitnesses, all that delivery driver asked was that because she's an Eels player, maybe she'd like another spoon.

Listen to the audio - 0:03

In addition to the Rugby League World Cup returning to Australia in 2026, the other interesting piece of news this week is that noted Souths fan and fabled host of Spicks and Specks Adam Hills has been appointed to the honorary position of President of the Rugby Football League in England.

He won't have to do much, although he will spend the day asking several questions to Alan Brough and Myf Warhurst.

On to the rugby league events of this weekend, and there's no Thursday night game for the blokes this week, owing to the NRLW season opener between the defending premiers the Newcastle Knights and the Sydney Roosters getting the standalone prime time slot on Channel 9, which could end up working considering the Women's State of Origin ratings were solid enough...

But yes, it has nothing to do with Channel 9 clearing the benches for the Paris Olympics.

Now, the games for Round 21, as the Knights get the bye this week:

The early Friday game (A prime time game for the hosts) has the New Zealand Warriors hosting the Wests Tigers in a Bottom 4 clash at Mt Smart, as the Warriors found another creative way to lose last Friday night by shanking a tying conversion dead in front of goal, while the Tigers would probably like the game to start the game now before they give up 3 tries in no time at all.

The prime time Channel 9 game has Parramatta hosting the runaway leaders the Melbourne Storm, having just ripped Jason Ryles from their grasp, which still won't offset the fact the Eels have approximately $4.5m worth of salary cap payments on the sidelines...

Another interesting note - This will be the Melbourne Storm's 700th match in First Grade rugby league since 1998, during which time they boast the greatest winning percentage of any club to every play First Grade, and by a fair margin (67%, the late St George are 2nd on 60.7%)

The Broncos host the Bulldogs in the rare sighting of a Saturday afternoon home game for the Bronx, who showed last week they're not quite finished in 2024, although it will take a gargantuan effort to the make the finals, while the Bulldogs stay in Queensland after a narrow defeat in Townsville, giving up the lead with 9 minutes to go.

I would also note this week is Bronco Martin Taupau's 250th game after a sojourn through 4 clubs... good on him.

The Cowboys stay in Townsville and host the Cronulla Sharks in the twilight slot, with the Sharks having won all 3 games against the Cowboys since the 2022 Qualifying Final by no fewer than 20 points, and a fun historical note is that the Sharks are potentially 1 win away from evening up their all-time Win/Loss record, which is 681 wins, 4 draws, 682 defeats...

The Sharks did actually get ahead on the wins column for the first time ever (Having played since 1967) after they defeated the Melbourne Storm in Round 10, but that skid during the Origin period saw them fall back behind.

The Roosters host Manly at the SFS in the Saturday night slot, which is actually the first time Manly have played at the new SFS, and with just 1 point between them on the ladder the winner will just about sit in the Top 4 on Sunday night, as the Sea Eagles dumped the Titans last week, while the game in Melbourne was just about the death knell for the Roosters' premiership chances, confirming once and for all they are the greatest pretenders since Freddie Mercury.

Case in point, they've lost twice to the Storm, against Penrith, Manly, the Sharks in Magic Round, and they went 1-1 against the Bulldogs... all up, a 1-6 record against their fellow Top 6 teams, and if you include the defeat against the Cowboys during Origin time, it's 1-7 against Top 8 teams... stinky.

Bloody Sunday begins as St George-Illawarra host Penrith in Woolongong, with pretty much every Origin player back into the starting 13s for both teams, making it a very tolerable game to watch.

The Channel 9 Sunday warm-up for the Olympics has the Redcliffe Dolphins hosting the Gold Coast Titans in a South-East Queensland derby at Suncorp, as the Dolphins come back with their flippers lowered after leading 26-12 with 25 minutes to go, only to get run down and forced into Golden Point by the Panthers, where Nathan Cleary harpooned them from 40 metres away... while the Titans aren't talking about that game at Brookvale.

And the last game of the weekend has the Canberra Raiders hosting Souths in the Anthony Albanese Cup, in what will be Josh Papalii's 299th NRL game, so if Ricky gets a bit sentimental and misty eyed, he can rest Josh next week and give him a 300th game at home against Manly in 2 weeks.

And now for the Succinct NRL Tips for Round 21, as I managed to dump myself out of the Top 10% on FootyTips despite a decent 5/7…

Round 20 Score = 5/7

Running score after Round 20 = 91/148 (61.5%)

Lock of the Week

Amazingly, I actually got one of these right last week thanks to Souths, but then again, is picking a team to defeat the Wests Tigers really a lock...

So that means I can't use the Warriors this week, even though I would like to blast out Slice of Heaven...

So we'll take the Roosters to knock off Manly on the flat track of the SFS, a place Manly have never been before, and to paraphrase the Rolling Stones, watch out strange cat Manly people, the Little Red Roosters are on the prowl!