A blockbuster between two modern-day rivals and an ex-Bronco facing off against the club that dumped him at the end of last year will be just two of the events that will highlight Round 2 of the 2015 NRL season.

Impressive performances by the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters in the opening round will make their showdown on Sunday afternoon a must-watch, while Ben Barba will be out to prove a point against the Brisbane Broncos, who moved him on at the end of last season as Wayne Bennett sought to rebuild the club.

Elsewhere, life without Jarryd Hayne will again be put to the test as the Parramatta Eels face the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs on Friday night, while the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles and Melbourne Storm will renew their decade-long rivalry at Brookvale Oval on Saturday night.

Let’s now preview each of the eight Round 2 matches which promise to be beauties.

Bulldogs versus Eels
After twice previously starting the season with a huge win, but failing to follow it up for the remainder of the season, Parramatta fans will be hoping that this year is the year they continue to improve and return to the finals for the first time since 2009.

The club’s 42-12 victory over the Sea Eagles was the best attacking performance of the round, and it was made possible by a hat-trick of tries to star winger Semi Radradra and impressive performances by Reece Robinson and Chris Sandow.

The Eels will thus have reason to believe they can beat the Bulldogs this Friday night, despite it being a home game for last year’s beaten grand finalists, six-point losers to the Panthers on Sunday.

Compounding the Bulldogs’ early woes will be the fact that five-eighth Josh Reynolds will miss up to eight weeks after breaking his arm against the Panthers, robbing the club of options in attack.

It will be a mountainous task for the Bulldogs if they are to win in their first home outing for the season, but they can take solace from the fact that they are traditionally hard to beat at ANZ Stadium, last year’s decider aside.

Still, I think the Eels will get up in this one.

Prediction: Eels by 10 points.

Sharks versus Broncos
One of the biggest stories last season was the departure of Ben Barba from the Brisbane Broncos, merely twelve months after his arrival at the club raised high hopes and expectations for the club, its fans and stakeholders.

Despite playing all 25 games last year, Barba appeared a mere shadow of the man who won the Dally M Medal in 2012 as he led the Bulldogs’ surge to the grand final that year, which was lost to the Melbourne Storm.

Now, he finds himself at the Cronulla Sharks. In tandem with former Bulldogs teammate Michael Ennis, he will be the club’s biggest saviour as they attempt to erase the ASADA scandal from their memory banks.

Barba endured a forgettable Sharks debut as the club narrowly went down to the Canberra Raiders last round. However, the result appeared to prove that they are heading in the right direction, given what has happened over the last two years.

This Friday night, they will host an under-siege Brisbane Broncos side which sits last on the ladder on percentage after copping a 36-6 hiding at the hands of the South Sydney Rabbitohs last Thursday night.

For all the hype, excitement and expectation surrounding master coach Wayne Bennett’s return to the club, disappointingly it all went out the window as the Broncos were easily outclassed by the reigning premiers at home.

With both sides desperate for a win, each will be out to put the demons of last week behind them and get their seasons started, rather belatedly.

Prediction: Broncos by two points.

Panthers versus Titans
Following their impressive opening round win over last year’s beaten grand finalists the Bulldogs, the Penrith Panthers will be out to continue their good start to the season when they take their home game against the Gold Coast Titans to Bathurst on Saturday afternoon.

Ivan Cleary’s men played just about the best football you could ask for after an hour, when they led 24-0 before three late Bulldogs tries had the fans fearing either golden point or a heartbreaking defeat.

Thankfully, they held on for a 24-18 victory and it’s no surprise that they will start favourites to defeat the Titans, who will again be missing Greg Bird and Dave Taylor for the trip out to country New South Wales.

To say the least, the Titans were far from disgraced against the Wests Tigers but the absences of those said players, among others, proved to be the difference as they lost by just a solitary point.

Even if these players do manage to come back at any stage this early in the season, it won’t chance some experts’ perceptions of the club whom many predict will win the wooden spoon this season.

Prediction: Panthers by 14 points.

Sea Eagles versus Storm
While it’s inevitable a golden era of success is about to come to an end at Brookvale Oval, the same cannot be said for the Melbourne Storm. Despite beating a disappointing Dragons side by only eight points last week, they continue to prove their doubters wrong.

Captain Cameron Smith was supposed to have missed that match due to an ankle injury he suffered during the off-season but as he has done for almost the last decade, he led from the front – making 50 tackles against the Saints.

The Storm are in Sydney again but they won’t be haunted by their modern-day rivals, the Sea Eagles, who are coming off a 42-12 drubbing by Parramatta last Friday night.

Having already lost Anthony Watmough and Glenn Stewart to other clubs since the end of last year, the club will lose Daly Cherry-Evans at the end of the season while Kieran Foran could also be heading out of Brookvale as well.

The only solace the Sea Eagles can take is that they will play their first home game of the season this weekend – and wouldn’t their home support be what they just need as they look to get on the board for 2015.

But for all the dramas that have engulfed the club over the last twelve months, I just cannot see it happening.

Prediction: Storm by eight points.

Cowboys versus Knights
All eyes will be on the North Queensland Cowboys as they look to respond to their horror home showing against the Sydney Roosters last week.

At home for the second consecutive week to start the season, they will welcome the Newcastle Knights to town this Saturday night hellbent on putting last week’s performance behind them.

The loss to the Chooks exposed the club as premiership pretenders and they will be desperate to bounce back against a side that appears to be rediscovering their mojo under reinvented coach Rick Stone.

The Knights overcame an early deficit and the sin-binning of David Fa’alogo to defeat the Warriors 24-14 at home as they look to move on from the ill-fated Wayne Bennett era.

Boosting their chances of an upset victory in Townsville will be the fact that captain Kurt Gidley, who missed the win due to injury, should be back on deck.

However, the bounce-back factor and the home ground advantage should play right into the Cowboys’ hands as they look to bank their first win for season 2015.

Prediction: Cowboys by 16 points.

Rabbitohs versus Roosters
Without doubt, Sunday’s match between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters has got to rank as the match of the round, and quite possibly, a preview of this year’s grand final.

While the Rabbitohs’ 36-6 thrashing of Brisbane was well-documented, the Roosters were just as impressive in their 28-4 victory over the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville, proving that there is life after Anthony Minichiello and Sonny Bill Williams, who both departed the club at the end of last season.

Even without those two, as well as injured hooker Jake Friend, the Chooks dominated the Cowboys from start to finish, with Friend’s dummy-half replacement Matt McIlwrick and the halves pairing of James Maloney and Mitchell Pearce performing impressively.

It was the Rabbitohs who ended the Roosters’ premiership defence in the penultimate weekend of last season and the latter would love to serve some revenge on the team that eventually went on to win its first premiership in 43 years.

On paper, both sides are well-balanced and on that basis it will be hard to predict a winner with any real confidence. However, I’ll back the Rabbitohs – by just – in this one.

Prediction: Rabbitohs by six points.

Raiders versus Warriors
The Canberra Raiders will enter their first home game of the season full of confidence after recording their fourth straight NRL victory (starting in Round 24 last year), and for very good reason.

Who needs Anthony Milford when you’ve got Jack Wighton? Well, that was the question being asked as the latter scored two tries against the Sharks to get the club’s season off to a good start.

Wighton shapes as the permanent replacement for Milford in the fullback guernsey and there is no doubt that we will continue to see a lot of him as the Raiders attempt to defy the experts’ predictions that they would be wooden spoon contenders in 2015.

On the other side of the spectrum, the Warriors were wasteful in their 24-14 loss to the Knights in Newcastle last weekend, their cause not helped by fullback Sam Tomkins missing the match due to a hamstring injury.

With their trip to Canberra being their second consecutive road trip to start the season – made possible by the ongoing Cricket World Cup in their home country – some capital punishment could be served up to the club on Sunday night.

Sure, the Warriors did win their previous meeting in Round 21 last year but it was their first win at Canberra Stadium since 1997, ending a 17-year hoodoo. The excess travel the club has already had to make will conspire against them.

Prediction: Raiders by 12 points.

Tigers versus Dragons
After opening their season and the Jason Taylor era, with a narrow victory on the Gold Coast, the Wests Tigers return home for the first time this season when they welcome the Dragons to Campbelltown Stadium for the first time since 2000.

Despite defeating a Titans side weakened by the absences of Greg Bird and Dave Taylor due to drugs charges, the Tigers didn’t do enough to suggest they’ll be a threat to the competition this year.

Halfback Luke Brooks was again exposed in defence while halves partner Mitchell Moses just escaped suspension by the NRL tribunal for coathanging William Zillman late in the match.

While the Tigers won narrowly, the Dragons were just plain disappointing in their 12-4 loss to the Melbourne Storm at Kogarah Oval on Monday night, scoring just one try (off a kick) and failing to capitalise on their chances in attack.

If the club’s performance was anything to go by, then their fans will be facing yet another long season ahead as the Dragons try to rediscover the form that took them to the premiership nearly four-and-a-half years ago.

But if there’s one player who will be fired up for the trip to Campbelltown, it’s Benji Marshall, who made his NRL debut for the Wests Tigers in a win against Newcastle at this very ground late in the 2003 season.

Marshall and halves partner Gareth Widdop failed to fire against the Storm but against the Tigers, whom the Dragons beat twice last year, they will be desperate to repay the club’s faith in them as far as taking the club forward is concerned.

But I just cannot see it happening and the Wests Tigers should have no problem starting their season 2-0.

Prediction: Tigers by 14 points.