In 2013, the Roosters, Storm and Rabbitohs have all had their moments at the top, while the woeful Tigers are at the other end of the scale.
Wests are an embarrassment at the moment. Sure a close win against the Cowboys helped, but they had lost seven in row prior to this, mostly by sizeable margins. They are hard to watch.
Their depth has been badly exposed their depth by a mountain of injuries throughout the backline. This predicament is something the Warriors can relate to, as promoting under-20s players is often a steep learning curve.
Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall are doing their best as the leadership group but it is hard to see much changing for the rest of the season, as their returning players might not be able to stop the rot in time.
The Eels and Warriors aren’t far behind but have managed some advances with timely wins in between some poor losses.
South Sydney leads the competition on points with nine wins and two losses from eleven games.
The Rabbitohs have been steady rather then spectacular, probably their win against Manly at Brookvale Oval their best performance so far.
The Roosters’ match against the Storm was supposed to confirm how far the Roosters have come this year. But once again, Melbourne rallied to win their first in four games.
Expect the terrific Melbourne side, led by the super-impressive and constantly evolving Craig Bellamy, to set even greater standards for the remainder of the season now.
Any chink in the Storm armour is seemingly papered over and firmed before other teams can react.
Manly is a consistent team – in that they consistently win and are clinical rather than flashy.
They round out a clear top four.
The rest of the top eight remains a complete lottery with nine teams separated by four competition points.
The patchy Bulldogs, a shadow of their freewheeling attacking strike-force of 2012, are struggling to produce such form again.
Injuries and suspensions to some of the key players – read Ben Barba, Krisnan Inu, Sam Kasiano and James Graham – have stalled their good work.
The Panthers are the team no other side wants to play at the moment. Mauled by injuries and a dramatic form slump with five losses on the trot didn’t make for a good start.
But a 44-12 shellacking of an equally poor Eels side started a reversal.
Then two wins of huge magnitude – a dramatic 12-10 defeat of Melbourne and an almost unfathomable 62-6 dumping of the Warriors increased their stocks even more.
Is the Gold Coast about to embark on a similar run, with a big win in round eleven?
At the moment, the only certainty is uncertainty in this topsy turvy NRL season.
seven dollers worth
Guest
Only in 5th due to differential points. That wont hold them. It was the same for the Knights last year, got to the end and they fell hard.
peeeko
Roar Guru
thats a bit of a fallacy
peeeko
Roar Guru
i think they only miss one game because they have byes?
The Spectator
Roar Guru
Will trip ! i said last year that for either the dogs or bunnies to win GF has to play each other, the dogs are closer to a grand final win than the bunnies, they need to play the roosters in the GF to win, Lose one to win one.
nayfo
Guest
ben jones bahaha no way samisoni langi will play number 6
Brendan Bradford
Roar Pro
The randomness of this season is best highlighted by the fact that the Knights just lost - quite badly - to the Warriors but are still fifth on the table.
Zaccaaa
Guest
Rabbits with no Inglis, Te'o, McQueen, Sutton S. Burgess Will look like this 1 Merritt 2 Everingham 3 Campion 4 Goodwin 5 Hunt 6 Walker 7 Reynolds 8 Tyrrell 9 Luke 10 Asotasi 11 Clark 12 G. Burgess 13 Lowe 14 Peats 15 Lima 16 Starling 17 Farrell And Broncos without some of their Rep players 1 Norman 2 Hoffman 3 Kahu 4 Whitchurch 5 Kemp 6 Prince 7 Wallace 8 McGurie 9 McCullough 10 Anderson 11 Lui 12 Glenn 13 Granville 14 Hunt 15 Hala 16 J. Wallace 17 Ah Mau Roosters without their halfs and Jennings 1 Mini 2 Tupou 3 Oldfield 4 SKD 5 Sheck 6 Ben Jones 7 Mortimer 8 O'Donnell 9 Friend 10 Kennedy 11 Aubusson 12 Williams 13 Cordner 14 Guerra 15 Frank-Paul Nuuausala 16 Lui 17 Tasi
Haz
Guest
Not a direct answer, but I remember that David Gallop started some sort of inquiry into why pectoral injuries have increased a billion percent* in the last few years. Don't know if that ever amounted to anything. * not an actual real statistic.
up in the north
Guest
If anyone has worked out how to pick the winners each week, let me know. Please. It seems some of these blow out scores are happening for no good reason, that I can see anyway. I'm no expert. It's just such a fine line between the second tier teams. The four already discussed are miles better than everyone else. I know it is only Rnd 12. There's no good reason why the cowbies are playing such rubbish. - no I'll rephrase, their win / loss shouldn't be as bad as it is. Obviously it is though. Maybe it's the 1% ers not getting done? The gun sides usually keep improving, even if they have a bad game or two. Bazio, I like your idea / theory about a team inflicting more injuries. There could be something in that.
steve
Guest
Its easy to pick the winners so long as you have a high betting IQ.
Renegade
Guest
I'm just going to throw it out there.....I think Souths are pretenders. :)
seven dollers worth
Guest
Souths were in the worst form in years last night. Todd Carney celebrated as though they had just won the grandfinal. A week in the top 8 will lift the spirit of the Sharks. Just lucky it was the Sharks last night and not a talanted team like the Storm or Manly as Souths would have been flogged by at least 35 points.
Troy Vayanos
Guest
It's one of those seasons where any team can beat anyone on their day. It makes for great unpredictable football but is a nightmare for footing tipping. Glad I don't do it any more!
Bazzio
Roar Guru
For my 20c's worth ~ It seems to me there are far too many serious injuries occurring these past couple of years, especially so @ Dragons. It's no coincidence that the top sides play very hard and solid footy, & are composed of very strong, physically developed players. I'd be interested to see if there are any statistics regarding players being injured. Or to put it another way ~ are there some teams that INFLICT more injuries than other sides?
itsuckstobeyou
Roar Pro
Roosters with no halves, Rabbits with no Inglis, McQueen, S. Burgess (on report) and possibly Sutton if he gets the nod, Manly with no DCE, Watmough, Stewarts... Could bring them back to the pack. Of the teams currently on 10 points or more, you'd have to say that the Panthers and the Dogs are in the best position to take advantage of the Origin break. The tables could literally turn!
Nomenclature
Guest
No wonder the bookies want to get on board...
matt h
Guest
That's the big unknown isn't it. Every team with Origin commitments now enteres a high risk period. What happens to the Roosters with Pearce and Maloney? What about the Rabbitohs without Inglis?
Matt
Guest
Agree. Consistent is the last word I'd use to describe Manly (unless you mean consistently all over the shop). They're just not gelling. If they get a few passes to stick, make the right decisions at the right time, they'll be real contenders.
Matt
Guest
Not only did the Roosters lose to the Storm, the Storm were arguably in their worst form of the season as well after scraping home against the Warriors, to then be beaten by Canberra and Penrith.
Matt
Guest
Not only did the Roosters lose to the Storm, the Storm were arguably in their worst form of the season as well after scraping home against the Warriors, to then be beaten by Canberra and Penrith.