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So this week we have some serious NRL form from Round 1 to go on, so I have fired my pre-season fortune teller and this is what Round 2 has for us.
The coaches have for the most part chosen to stick to their Round 1 sides except for injuries and returning senior players, so the chop has yet to fall.
Fri 14 Mar Sea Eagles v Rabbitohs Bluetongue Stadium Nine 7:40PM
Manly were lacking in attack after Brett Stewart suffered a hamstring injury against the Storm. They go into this game against the Rabbitohs without Brett Stewart and with doubts hanging over the strength of their forward pack this year.
Peta Hiku replaces Brett Stewart, with David Willams returning on the wing and Jason King on the bench.
Manly will be hungry for points, but Souths come fresh from their impressive win against the Roosters and have named an unchanged side with their halves apparently cleared to play.
An extended Souths bench has also been named but I am assuming both halves will play and that Souths should be too strong.
Rabbitohs
1 Greg Inglis 2 Nathan Merritt 3 Beau Champion 4 Bryson Goodwin 5 Lote Tuqiri 6 Dylan Walker 7 Adam Reynolds 8 George Burgess 9 Issac Luke 10 Sam Burgess 11 Chris McQueen 12 Ben Te’o 13 John Sutton (c) Interchange 14 Ben Lowe 15 Joe Picker 16 David Tyrrell 17 Luke Burgess 18 Joel Reddy 19 Kyle Turner
Sea Eagles
1 Peta Hiku 2 Cheyse Blair 3 Jamie Lyon (c) 4 Steve Matai 5 David Williams 6 Kieran Foran 7 Daly Cherry-Evans 8 Josh Starling 9 Matt Ballin 10 Brenton Lawrence 11 Anthony Watmough 12 Justin Horo 13 Glenn Stewart Interchange 14 James Hasson 15 Dunamis Lui 16 Jamie Buhrer 17 Jason King 18 Jesse Sene-Lefao
Fri 14 Mar Broncos v Cowboys Suncorp Stadium Nine 7:40PM
The Broncos played strongly against the Bulldogs but their halves were a problem. They now face an in-form Johnathan Thurston.
The Broncos forwards absorbed a pounding last week but they have named an unchanged side.
The Cowboys were rather quiet in their game against the Raiders and were saved by an exceptional display by Thurston. Maybe the inclusion on the bench of veteran Ashton Sims will lift the forwards.
I think the Cowboys will lift this week and win well.
Cowboys
1 Michael Morgan 2 Kyle Feldt 3 Brent Tate 4 Kane Linnett 5 Antonio Winterstein 6 Johnathan Thurston (c) 7 Robert Lui 8 Matt Scott (c) 9 Ray Thompson 10 James Tamou 11 Gavin Cooper 12 Jason Taumalolo 13 Joel Riethmuller Interchange 14 Rory Kostjasyn 15 Tariq Sims 16 Glenn Hall 17 Scott Bolton 18 Ashton Sims
Broncos
1 Ben Barba 2 Daniel Vidot 3 Jack Reed 4 Dale Copley 5 Lachlan Maranta 6 Josh Hoffman 7 Ben Hunt 8 Josh McGuire 9 Andrew McCullough 10 Corey Parker (c) 11 Alex Glenn 12 Sam Thaiday 13 Matt Gillett Interchange 14 Ben Hannant 15 Martin Kennedy 16 Todd Lowrie 17 Jarrod Wallace 18 David Hala
Sat 15 Mar Warriors v Dragons Eden Park Fox 5:00PM
The Warriors good preseason form appeared to dissolve in their loss last week against the Eels while the Dragons poor preseason form also seemed to dissolve in their win against the Tigers.
The Warriors coach has shown confidence in his team and made minimal changes to their team that lost badly to the Eels with the most interesting being the inclusion of Jerome Ropati at centre to help plug those gaps out wide.
The Dragons coach has been equally reluctant to make changes to his winning team with Sam Williams coming in for the injured Michael Witt and Bronson Harrison coming into to the bench to replace Jack de Belin, who was also injured.
Both the Warriors and Dragons defence was however a common concern and it will be a question of which side wants this win most, particularly given that they play twice this year.
The Warriors should be hungrier for the points, but the Dragons although winners last up, will also be desperate. They have a horror run starting with Round 5 when they play the Rabbitohs followed by the Storm, Warriors, Roosters, Bulldogs, Eels before having a bye and taking on the Rabbitohs again.
It could go either way, but if I were the Warriors coach I would have been tempted to test his reserve strength and make more changes to their losing side.
I will go for the Dragons in a close match.
Warriors
1 Sam Tomkins 2 Glen Fisiiahi 3 Dane Nielsen 4 Jerome Ropati 5 Manu Vatuvei 6 Chad Townsend 7 Shaun Johnson 8 Sam Rapira 9 Nathan Friend 10 Ben Matulino 11 Jayson Bukuya 12 Simon Mannering (c) 13 John Palavi Interchange 14 Jacob Lillyman 15 Suaia Matagi 16 Ben Henry 17 Feleti Mateo 20 Sione Lousi
Dragons
1 Adam Quinlan 2 Brett Morris 3 Dylan Farrell 4 Gerard Beale 5 Jason Nightingale 6 Jason Nightingale 7 Sam Williams 8 Tyson Frizell 9 Mitch Rein 10 Dan Hunt 11 Leeson Ah Mau 12 Ben Creagh (c) 13 Trent Merrin Interchange 14 Bronson Harrison 15 Kyle Stanley 16 Joel Thompson 17 Mike Cooper
Sat 15 Mar Storm v Panthers AAMI Park Fox 5:30PM
Both teams come into this match with wins last weekend, and this should be an interesting test of the Panthers’ new team against tougher competition.
The Panthers have named their winning team with Jamal Idris rested for another week. Watch out for Josh Mansour for the Panthers.
Cooper Cronk returns for the Storm.
The Panthers are top of the table at the moment after their win over the Knights and I am sure that the Storm would like to claim that position. I pick the Storm in a close game.
Panthers
1 Matt Moylan 2 Josh Mansour 3 Dean Whare 4 Isaah Yeo 5 David Simmons 6 Jamie Soward 7 Peter Wallace(c) 8 Brent Kite 9 Kevin Kingston (c) 10 Nigel Plum 11 Lewis Brown 12 Elijah Taylor 13 Adam Docker Interchange 14 James Segeyaro 15 Jeremy Latimore 16 Tyrone Peachey 17 Sam McKendry
Storm
1 Billy Slater 2 Sisa Waqa 3 Will Chambers 4 Mahe Fonua 5 Young Tonumaipea 6 Ben Hampton 7 Cooper Cronk 8 Jesse Bromwich 9 Cameron Smith (c) 10 Bryan Norrie 11 Kevin Proctor 12 Ryan Hoffman 13 Ryan Hinchcliffe Interchange 14 Kenny Bromwich 15 Tohu Harris 16 Jordan McLean 17 George Rose 18 Ben Roberts
Sat 15 Mar Roosters v Eels Allianz Stadium Fox 7:30PM
Roosters after their flat performance against the Rabbitohs, need to take the Eels seriously and they need to do it without Sonny Bill Williams who was suspended for three weeks as a result of a shoulder charge. Mitch Aubusson replaces the suspended Sonny Bill Williams.
The Eels showed they had great attacking strength out wide against the Warriors and can be expected to go into this game with confidence. The Eels are unchanged except that Kaysa Pritchard replaces suspended club bad boy Nathan Peats at hooker.
I expect that the Roosters without SBW, will be too smart to lose this one, but it could be close.
Eels
1 Jarryd Hayne (c) 2 Semi Radradra 3 Will Hopoate 4 Willie Tonga 5 Vai Toutai 6 Corey Norman 7 Luke Kelly 8 Tim Mannah (c) 9 Kaysa Pritchard 10 Fuifui Moimoi 11 Ben Smith 12 Manu Ma’u 13 Kenny Edwards Interchange 14 Joseph Paulo 15 Kelepi Tanginoa 16 Peni Terepo 17 Darcy Lussick 18 Mitch Allgood 19 David Gower
Roosters
1 Anthony Minichiello (c) 2 Daniel Tupou 3 Michael Jennings 4 Shaun Kenny-Dowall 5 Roger Tuivasa-Sheck 6 James Maloney 7 Mitchell Pearce 8 Jared Waerea-Hargreaves 9 Jake Friend 10 Sam Moa 11 Boyd Cordner 12 Mitchell Aubusson 13 Frank-Paul Nuuausala Interchange 14 Daniel Mortimer 15 Aidan Guerra 16 Remi Casty 17 Kane Evans 18 Dylan Napa 19 Siosiua Taukeiaho
Sun 16 Mar Titans v Wests Tigers Robina Stadium Nine 2:00PM
The Titans despite a victory against the Sharks looked very slow and clumsy. The Tigers in their loss to the St George Illawarra at least managed to scare the Dragons in the first half.
The Tigers have named experienced prop Keith Galloway and winger David Nofoaluma on an extended bench but the coach has resisted any temptation to make larger changes.
The Titans are basically unchanged.
I think this could be a close game, but favour the Titans to win.
Wests Tigers
1 James Tedesco 2 Marika Koroibete 3 Marika Koroibete 4 Chris Lawrence 5 Pat Richards 6 Braith Anasta 7 Luke Brooks 8 Aaron Woods 9 Robbie Farah 10 Martin Taupau 11 Liam Fulton 12 Bodene Thompson 13 Adam Blair Interchange 14 Cory Paterson 15 Ava Seumanufagai 16 Sauaso Sue 17 James Gavet 18 Keith Galloway 19 David Nofoaluma
Titans
1 William Zillman 2 Kevin Gordon 3 Brad Tighe 4 Maurice Blair 5 David Mead 6 Aidan Sezer 7 Albert Kelly 8 Luke Douglas 9 Beau Falloon 10 Nate Myles (c) 11 Greg Bird (c) 12 David Taylor 13 Ashley Harrison Interchange 14 Matthew White 15 Luke Bailey 16 Mark Minichiello 17 Paul Carter 18 Ryan James
Sun 16 Mar Knights v Raiders Hunter Stadium Fox 6:30PM
Both are winless but the Knights go into this match with its existing long list of injuries and badly mauled by the Panthers, with Darius Boyd out with a hamstring injury.
Kurt Gidley replaces the injured Darius Boyd at fullback, while Travis Waddell moves to hooker.
The Raiders came away from their loss to the Cowboys with some confidence and name an unchanged side.
Watch out for Milford at fullback for the Raiders in a game I expect the Raiders to win.
Raiders
1 Anthony Milford 2 Reece Robinson 3 Jarrod Croker 4 Matt Allwood 5 Edrick Lee 6 Jack Wighton 7 Terry Campese (C) 8 Dane Tilse 9 Glen Buttriss 10 Brett White 11 Josh Papalii 12 Joel Edwards 13 Shaun Fensom Interchange 14 Josh McCrone 15 Jarrad Kennedy 16 Paul Vaughan 17 Shannon Boyd
Knights
1 Kurt Gidley (c) 2 James McManus 3 Dane Gagai 4 Joey Leilua 5 Akuila Uate 6 Michael Dobson 7 Tyrone Roberts 8 Kade Snowden 9 Travis Waddell 10 Willie Mason 11 Beau Scott 12 Robbie Rochow 13 Jeremy Smith Interchange 14 Alex McKinnon 15 Chris Houston 16 David Fa’alogo 17 Adam Cuthbertson 18 Matt Minto 19 Jake Mamo
Mon 17 Mar Bulldogs v Sharks ANZ Stadium Fox 7:00PM
The Sharks play on Monday night for the second time this year against the Bulldogs who will be hungry for a win. The Sharks played poorly against the Titans while the Bulldogs lost narrowly to the Broncos.
The Sharks are lacking many key players which was a problem against the Titans and are also now missing captain Paul Gallen and Andrew Fifita.
Fifita faces up to three weeks suspension after being charged with a shoulder charge during Monday night’s 18-12 loss to the Gold Coast. The spectre of Fifita leaving at end of the season also hangs over the team.
The Bulldogs side have named an unchanged side with Moses Mbye expected to play.
While the Bulldogs are also lacking many key players I expect them to be too strong.
Bulldogs
1 Sam Perrett 2 Mitch Brown 3 Josh Morris 4 Chase Stanley 5 Corey Thompson 6 Josh Reynolds 7 Trent Hodkinson 8 Aiden Tolman 9 Michael Ennis (c) 10 James Graham 11 Frank Pritchard (c) 12 Tony Williams 13 Dale Finucane Interchange 14 Josh Jackson 15 Pat O’Hanlon 16 Tim Browne 17 David Klemmer 19 Moses Mbye
Sharks
1 Michael Gordon 2 Sosaia Feki 3 Blake Ayshford 4 Ricky Leutele 5 Jonathan Wright 6 Todd Carney 7 Daniel Holdsworth 8 Andrew Fifita 9 John Morris 10 Bryce Gibbs 11 Matt Prior 12 Wade Graham (c) 13 Tinirau Arona Interchange 14 Isaac De Gois 15 Sam Tagataese 16 Tupou Sopoaga 17 Siosaia Vave 22 Chris Heighington
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