The Melbourne Cricket Ground will be the venue for Origin II next Wednesday night in front of around 100,000 people. Nobody is as excited about this blockbuster as The Roar’s NRL Expert Tipsters.
But before the main event where Queensland is looking to clinch the 2015 series, the NRL has four games for us to sink our teeth into.
South Sydney Rabbitohs will go into Friday night football as hot favourites against the Wests Tigers while the flamboyant and unpredictable New Zealand Warriors host the Sydney Roosters in a big trans-Tasman clash on Saturday.
Canterbury travel to the Gold Coast for a meeting with the Titans and they’ll do it without a number of their State of Origin stars. The best part though for Bulldogs fans is a combination of Josh Reynolds and Moses Mybe in six and seven.
Will that be too much for the Titans?
The festival of footy in Melbourne begins Monday night when the young Storm troopers come up against a sheepish Parramatta who gave up a 24 point lead against the Cowboys.
Can the Eels bounce back or will Melbourne strike another nail in Parramatta’s coffin?
Dane Eldridge
Tips: Rabbitohs (Powerplay), Roosters, Bulldogs, Eels.
“Souths should cruise on Friday night, but this is the round’s solitary piece of low hanging fruit, the rest are up the beanstalk.
“Easts have denigrated top opposition then sucked against Cronulla and now they travel to New Zealand minus their Origin stock to take on a Warriors team who has rollercoasters named after them.
“Melbourne’s skeleton staff has to scrounge the 70 minutes required to quell the energy-efficient Eels, and the Bulldogs have a testing road trip to the Gold Coast to take on a team who hates playing on the Gold Coast.
“To add to this tangle, my selection of winners this year is as reliable as a third party deal from the mid-noughties.
“So the question must be asked: why the hell are you still reading this?”
Mary Konstantopoulos
Tips: Rabbitohs (Powerplay), Warriors, Titans, Eels.
“An Origin-reduced Round 14 sees the Tigers versus the Rabbitohs on Friday night. The Tigers will sorely miss Aaron Woods and Robbie Farah up front and I am tipping the Rabbits to win, Warriors versus the Roosters on Saturday should be a cracker of a game. The Warriors were woeful last week but with the Roosters impacted by Origin so I am tipping the Warriors to come away with the win.
“The Titans versus the Bulldogs should be a hard fought out contest. I am tipping the Titans to win a close one.
“Finally how could anyone pick the lamentable Eels after their extraordinary and heart wrenching loss on Monday night? If they don’t beat the Storm however without Cronk, Smith, Chambers and Slater they never will. The Eels to win with zero confidence.”
Ryan O’Connell
Tips: Rabbitohs, Roosters, Bulldogs (Powerplay), Storm.
“Always a little tricky to tip when Origin players are missing, but a number of teams are in such good/bad form, that I feel (stupidly) confident about this week’s predictions.
“Bunnies to knock off the Tigers, Chooks versus Warriors might be tight, but I’ll go with the Roosters.
“The mighty Doggies to belt the Titans and the Storm to continue the recent misery for Parramatta.”
Tim Gore
Tips: Tigers (Powerplay), Warriors, Bulldogs, Eels.
“Wests Tigers have to win one eventually! This is as good as any time to do it.
“I think the Warriors will beat the depleted Roosters.
“Dogs – even with their Origin players out and Graham injured – look too good for the Titans and if the Eels don’t beat the Storm you can put a line through season 2015 for them.”
Curtis Woodward
Tips: Rabbitohs (Powerplay), Warriors, Bulldogs, Eels.
“Jason Taylor wants the Wests Tigers to play a certain way and that way is going to get them in trouble against South Sydney who will be more than happy to duke it out in the middle of the field. Souths aren’t the finished product yet but they’ve got too much polish for an underperforming Tigers outfit.
“I like the Warriors at home against the Sydney Roosters simply for the fact that they can’t be as bad as they were last week in Perth while Canterbury, ironically, look just as strong in the halves without their New South Wales pivot Trent Hodkinson.
“Parramatta was embarrassed by their fade against North Queensland last start. But they also scored thirty points. Unfortunately I don’t think the Storm have that many in them without their key men.”
| Round 14 | Tim | Mary | Ryan | Curtis | Dane |
| RABvTIG | Tigers | Rabbitohs | Rabbitohs | Rabbitohs | Rabbitohs |
| WARvROO | Warriors | Warriors | Roosters | Warriors | Roosters |
| TITvBUL | Bulldogs | Titans | Bulldogs | Bulldogs | Bulldogs |
| STOvEEL | Eels | Eels | Storm | Eels | Eels |
| POWERPLAY | Tigers | Rabbitohs | Bulldogs | Rabbitohs | Rabbitohs |
| LAST ROUND | 9 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 3 |
| OVERALL | 66 | 64 | 64 | 63 | 58 |
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