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Pick a winner? Impossible - plus more talking points from the NRL weekend

The Raiders under Ricky Stuart are a real chance of winning the competition. (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
Expert
28th August, 2016
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1594 Reads

If you are trying to pick a premier a week out from the end of the season, I wish the absolute best of luck to you, because it is just about the impossible task.

A lot of the teams who are rated as contenders have been up and down like a yo-yo with their form and it makes you wonder who really should be the favourites?

The Melbourne Storm are the team most likely to turn it around, but they have gone down to Canberra and Brisbane while grabbing a win that was far from confidence-installing over the Sea Eagles in the last three weeks.

The Broncos and Cowboys are up and down – have been since Origin although the Broncos might be starting to look good, and the Cowboys did just win at Belmore.

The Raiders are going to be without key players by the looks of things and the Bulldogs – well what exactly are you supposed to expect from them?

It’s been 49 years for the Sharks so who knows how they are going to perform come September, particularly given their recent form.

I am genuinely confused as to who will win this premiership. What a couple of weeks it is going to be through September.

Are the Broncos back?
The Broncos travelled to Melbourne on Friday Night and it was seen as their big test after a couple of wins against lower-ranked teams following up from a bad losing streak.

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No matter what you might think about the way the match panned out, or the way it was officiated the Broncos got the job done with physicality from the forwards and class through their backs.

Corey Parker and Sam Thaiday were great, as was Josh McGuire in leading the Broncos on their merry way rolling the Storm pack for the most part through the middle.

Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford, who are the keys to this Brisbane outfit, played brilliantly controlling things with their kicking game and turning on the creativity and flamboyancy when required – if they play like that to the end of the season the Broncos will be hard to beat.

The problem for them though, is that they still didn’t look to be at their best and will need to find some consistency in a hurry.

Still, a confidence-restoring win against a top two team won’t go astray for Brisbane.

Is there a problem in Melbourne?
The question that must also be asked from Friday Night’s game is ‘was it the Broncos or the Storm?’ The Storm are undoubtedly one of the best teams in the competition in the fact that they can dominate the middle as they please and then score points through Cameron Smith and Cooper Cronk, with youngster Cameron Munster chiming in at fullback.

The problem for the Storm though, is that hasn’t been happening. If they get outmatched physically, as they have done a couple of times recently, then they find it very hard to be the better team.

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They have a real issue playing from behind, and that is down to Cooper Cronk who never really wants to divert away from structure and just play the percentages – when he was forced out of that comfort zone on Friday against a strong Brisbane pack who played with a huge amount of energy for 80 minutes, he looked way out of his comfort zone.

The bottom line is, if the Storm are going to match teams physically as they always have done yet can’t control the ruck, they need to play with a similar amount of energy to other teams and try match them for pace.

They won’t like it, but teams are slowly starting to work them out at the right time of season.

Canberra’s defence might be an issue
The Raiders are in some serious trouble on a couple of fronts. Despite how well the team has been playing, their defence looked very shaky on the weekend and it’s not the first time this season that has happened.

Up until now, they have been able to rely on points and a very strong attacking performance to carry them over the line against most sides.

When they took on Melbourne three weeks ago, it looked as if they had turned things around with their defence in what was a very strong effort, but they then proceeded to go out and concede 30 points to the Sea Eagles.

With both Blake Austin and Aiden Sezer struggling on the injury front, points won’t be as easy to come by which means their pack needs to stand up, play with energy and shut other teams creativity down if they want to go far in the finals.

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But… Ricky Stuart must be coach of the year
There might still be a round of the 2016 season to go, but this is the first award I am ready to call. Ricky Stuart has to be coach of the season come the Dally M awards night.

He has done something very special to take Canberra from a team who were expected to maybe compete for the top eight and get bowled out of the finals very quickly to a team that is in contention for the top two and has to be genuinely considered a team that could take out the premiership.

I’m not sure how he has done it, but full credit to Ricky who has received his fair share of criticism over the years – most of it warranted.

I was wrong, the top eight isn’t quite locked in
Ok, so last weekend I sort of proclaimed the top eight was locked in even if the order isn’t. Well that prediction has gone south with the Gold Coast Titans losing to the Penrith Panthers and the Wests Tigers thumping the New Zealand Warriors.

The problem for the Titans who are on 27 competition points is that they have to travel to North Queensland and take on the Cowboys next week.

Lose and it all comes down to whether the Tigers can beat the Raiders next week at home. Not a proposition the Titans want to put themselves into.

Add to the fact that the Cowboys are still playing for a top four berth and you have a situation with the Tigers are almost favourites to slot themselves into eighth.

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Whether it is the Titans or Tigers, it would be expected they will play the Cowboys, Broncos or Bulldogs in the first week of the finals away from home and what a mighty challenge that would be.

Andrew McFadden can’t be coach of the Warriors in 2017
The New Zealand Warriors have gone out of the 2016 season without putting up a fight or raising a shout – more of a whimper really.

They have had so much to play for in the last three weeks, but have simply failed to rise to the occasion – and it’s not a matter of luck or something outside their control.

It’s all about the effort the Warriors are putting on, and simply put it hasn’t been anywhere near good enough to contest the matches they have had, which is particularly poor considering the back-loaded home schedule they had.

In fact, they have leaked 111 points in the last three weeks which resembles a side sitting on the bottom of the ladder, not a team battling to make the top eight.

Not good enough, and if McFadden can’t get them up for games of this nature then he has to go. He has made baffling selections throughout the season, and simply isn’t the man for the job in Auckland.

That is The Roar‘s NRL Talking points from the weekend that was. Thoughts Roarers? What did I miss?

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Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde

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