JT's Succinct NRL Tips: Round 25, 2024

By JTithers on August 22, 2024

I'm sure the fact that diehard Souths fan Anthony Albanese announced Ron Coote as the 14th Immortal would piss off Uncle Nick just a little bit

The 14th Immortal was announced on Hall of Fame Night at the SCG, and it was none other than Souths and Easts legend Ron Coote, winner of 6 premierships from 9 Grand Finals, a member of the Australian Rugby League and NSW Rugby League Team of the Centuries, captain of the 1970 World Cup winning Australian team, founder of the Men of League...

And if you can be good enough as a player to convince the Rabbitohs and Roosters to name a perpetual trophy in your honour, you damn well deserve to be an Immortal.

That also means the 1974-75 Roosters are now one of only a few premiership teams in history to have at least 2 Immortals in the same team (Coote and Arthur Beetson), joining the St George machine of the 1950s and 1960s, who had Reg Gasnier, John Raper, Norm Provan and Graeme Langlands.

It also means there's now only 4 players from the 2008 Australian Rugby League Team of the Century who haven't received Immortal status - Duncan Hall, Noel Kelly, Brian Bevan and Ken Irvine.

They're all gone now, so we'll be waiting for a while yet.

Now, to look at Round 25:

- In the same 48 hours that Benji Marshall and Backdoor Ben Elias were inducted into the Hall of Fame, the Marshall-coached Wests Tigers host Manly at Leichhardt Oval, with Manly also having 2 noteworthy inductees in one-time Silvertails kingmaker Ken Arthurson and supermenace Les Boyd.

I'll simply this about Ken Arthurson - You do not get the Manly we all know and absolutely loathe with every fibre of our beings without Ken Arthurson being as ruthlessly good as he was as an administrator... he even signed Les Boyd!

- The first Friday game has the New Zealand Warriors hosting Canterbury at Shaun Johnson Stadium, the stadium formerly known as Mt Smart Stadium which has been renamed in honour of Shaun Johnson's last NRL game in New Zealand, and Auckland is a place where the Bulldogs haven't won at since 2012, and a drought-breaking win on Friday would absolutely confirm them for a first Finals appearance since 2016 before any other results go their way...

It's also Matt Burton's 100th NRL game, in which time he managed to play for New South Wales and Australia within 60 games.

- The Brisbane Broncos host the Parramatta Eels in the Friday night Channel 9 game, as the Broncos still have a minor miracle at making the Top 8 (The Dragons would have to implode badly), while it appears the Eels are sinking even closer to an all-time great Spoonbowl against the Wests Tigers in Round 27, given the Eels probably won't win either of their next 2 games, and the Tigers have the Bye in Round 26, which would bring them level on points ahead of the last game in a fortnight.

- The Canberra Raiders host the Penrith Panthers in Canberra, as the Raiders pray for the end of 2024, and the Panthers not only lost to the Storm, but lost Nathan Cleary to injury once again, this time a shoulder injury halfway through the 2nd Half putting him on ice until the finals, as the Riff now have to focus on securing a Top 2 finish and getting the 2 home finals with them being only 1 win ahead of the Roosters, who are seemingly incapable of defeating them.

It's reached the stage where the Finals will definitely feature a Nathan Cleary tear - He'll either tear through 3 teams and win a fourth premiership, or he'll tear a rotator cuff and have lifelong shoulder damage.

- The Melbourne Storm have got one hand on the minor premiership thanks to the win in Penrith, and they can make it one hand plus 3 fingers with a win against the Redcliffe Dolphins on Saturday night, as Craig Bellamy's one-time master Wayne Bennett became the first player or coach to be inducted into the NRL Hall of Fame while still being being active in the NRL.

- South Sydney host Newcastle at the Olympic Stadium, a few days after a blatant forward pass that was spotted by the referee denied them victory against Wests Tigers, and Newcastle lamented another golden point defeat at Shark Park.

- The Gold Coast Titans host the Sydney Roosters on the Glitter Strip, and you'd suspect the Titans will have to score 40 points just to have a chance at victory, that's assuming Easts don't treat the game like a holiday.

- And the last game sees the classic southern suburbs derby as St George-Illawarra host Cronulla in the Sydney suburb of Wollongong, the Sharks having won the last 9 clashes between the teams dating back to 2020.

And now for the Round 25 tips, here we go…