There are a number of fascinating encounters this round: a few outside hopefuls looking for redemption, a few contenders looking to establish, and a couple of low-flyers looking to capture the game that the public thought they would bring in 2011.
Can Canterbury cut it with the big boys?
Every non-Bronco around heaved a sigh of relief when finally, finally, the boys from Brissy last year did not make the finals, but this year they are back where they have made their home – the top end of the table.
The real question to be answered is this: we know Canterbury can punish teams in and around themselves, but can they defeat a premiership contender?
Now, at the start of the season, this was yes, ambushing the Tigers on the final day of round one to kick off 2011. As the Tigers’ slide has shown, they are well below their try scoring, scintillating best (for now).
Canterbury are yet to show the goods against the two big challenges they have faced: the clinical Dragons and the renewed Storm, both of whom put the Dogs down with little more than a whimper.
Can the Doggies show they can win when it matters most, or is the top eight the most they can hope for this year?
Can South Sydney burrow out of the hole?
The Sharks also have a lot to prove this year, after showing what they can do against the Red V, but are coming off a loss to the Cowboys, so can the Bunnies finally start an assault on the eight against them?
The form says no, but if you line up the squads, the Rabbitohs should be crushing winners. A win against even a rejuvenated Cronulla outfit could see the Rabbitohs’ season over before it even began.
If they can’t put away the Sharks, nothing short of a circa-2009 Parramatta performance will save them in John Lang’s last year.
Yet another saviour looms on the horizon in Michael Maguire, but we’ve seen an awful lot of them in Redfern in the last few years.
Can the Titans score some points?
The Titans are second to only Parramatta as the lowest scoring side this year, and now is the time when those old legs need to start powering over the line. The Roosters are (short of Souths and the Raiders) one of the worst defensive outfits this year, and the Titans need to show they can finish.
Currently averaging fifteen and a half points a game, only the top three on average could post wins overall with this weak record. Their inability to put a fumbling Parramatta side away last week shows why they signed Idris (and supposedly Boyd) for next year. They need tries, but they also need them now.
Defence may win you premierships, but your attack will win you games, something the Gold Coast have yet to do back to back this year.
Can Penrith pick up from this week’s off-field dramas?
Their coach is about to farewell, and apparently Sheens, Brown and Hasler might be coming in. Petero isn’t happy, and unless he takes it out on some poor New Zealanders, it might bode poorly for the Panthers.
If, however, they try to prove all wrong about the players favourite Matthew Elliot by producing the tough forward going, and clinical finishing of last play movements that saw them finish second last year, fans of the boys from Penrith might finally have something to cheer about this year.
Will the Tigers injury crisis define their 2011?
The Tigers have had the worst run of injuries in recent memory, it seems that every key player apart from Benji is nursing an injury, and the depth is straining to keep up with their lofty ambitions and attacking pace.
Canberra look like they couldn’t win a chook raffle at the moment, their forwards are sluggish, their halves slow and lacking penetration, the Tigers need to put them down. Hard.
The Raiders are conceding 24.7 points a game, and the Tigers need to post a big score to not only build confidence, but remind the NRL why they were such a joy to watch in 2010.
It might start an hour late on telly this week, but it’s shaping up as a very important round of footy.
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