Another four games lie ahead in Round 2 with both the reigning premiers and wooden spooners in action.

Parramatta Eels versus North Queensland Cowboys
Saturday, March 12, 7:30pm (AEDT) at Pirtek Stadium

The Parramatta Eels have a huge challenge on their hands with Kieran Foran making his club debut against 2015 premiers the North Queensland Cowboys as the blue and gold look to get their first win for 2016.

Brad Arthur’s Eels have received a major boost with the return of star recruit Kieran Foran (hamstring) who will make his club debut alongside Corey Norman in the halves after missing Parramatta’s 17-4 Round 1 loss at the hands of the Brisbane Broncos.

The Eels performed surprisingly well against the premiership favourites, especially considering they were without Norman for the second half with Luke Kelly carrying the entire weight of his team having played less than 50 games at first-grade level.

He has been pushed out of Arthur’s team with Foran’s inclusion in the side while Danny Wicks joins a five-man extended bench.

Manu Ma’u was by far the Eels’ best on field, taking 15 hit-ups in 80 minutes for 116 metres while also making 32 tackles.

Nathan Peats was just as good at hooker as he made a massive 60 tackles while also making six dashes out of dummy half for a total of 49 metres.

Peats and Ma’u must lift again for the Eels if they are to be any chance at beating the reigning premiers while the likes of Peni Terepo, Tepai Moeroa and Junior Paulo will be required to step up and meet the performances of Ma’u and Beau Scott who also played out the full match making 40 tackles and 67 metres as interim captain.

The North Queensland Cowboys began their charge toward back-to-back premierships when they kicked off their season with a 20-14 win over the Cronulla Sharks.

Ethan Lowe starred for the Cowboys scoring the match-winning try after pumping out 80 minutes in which he took 17 hit-ups for 143 metres and made 38 tackles.

Gavin Cooper also spurred the Cowboys’ forward pack playing out a full game.

Coach Paul Green has named the same 17 that won last year’s grand final with the Townsvillians requiring increased minutes from impact forwards James Tamou, Jason Taumalolo and John Asiata.

In 31 meetings, the Eels and Cowboys have won 15 games each with one match drawn.

The two clubs met twice in 2015 with the Eels falling to the Cowboys on both occasions, 36-30 at Pirtek Stadium in Round 13 and 46-4 in Townsville during Round 20.

Prediction
The Cowboys will hold on to a win as the Eels look to prove their capabilities with the addition of Foran to the halves.

Cowboys by six.

What you need to know
Kickoff: 7:30pm (AEDT)
Venue: Pirtek Stadium
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Last meeting: Cowboys defeated Eels 46-4 (Round 20, 2015)
Head-to-head: 31 played – Eels 15, Cowboys 15

Parramatta Eels
1. Michael Gordon, 2. Semi Radradra, 3. Michael Jennings, 4 Brad Takairangi, 5. Clint Gutherson, 6. Corey Norman, 7. Kieran Foran (c), 8. Junior Paulo, 9. Nathan Peats, 10. Tim Mannah (c), 11. Manu Ma’u, 12. Beau Scott, 13. Tepai Moeroa

Interchange: 14. Kaysa Pritchard, 15. Peni Terepo, 16. Danny Wicks, 17. Kenny Edwards, 18. Daniel Alvaro

North Queensland Cowboys
1. Lachlan Coote, 2. Kyle Feldt, 3. Justin O’Neill, 4. Kane Linnett, 5. Antonio Winterstein, 6. Michael Morgan, 7. Johnathan Thurston (c), 8. Matthew Scott (c), 9. Jake Granville, 10. James Tamou, 11. Gavin Cooper, 12. Ethan Lowe, 13. Jason Taumalolo

Interchange: 14. Rory Kostjasyn, 15. John Asiata, 16. Scott Bolton, 17. Ben Hannant

Cronulla Sharks versus St George Illawarra Dragons
Sunday, March 13, 4pm (AEDT) at Shark Park

Archrivals Cronulla Sharks and St George Illawarra Dragons will go head-to-head in the Sunday afternoon football when the two south Sydney sides clash at Shark Park.

Shane Flanagan’s Sharks came incredibly close to a win in Round 1, going down to the Cowboys in Townsville 20-14 after Ethan Lowe won the game for the Cowboys with a late try.

The boys from the Shire will feel the loss of captain Paul Gallen (knee) who is set to miss between four and six weeks of action.

They will also be without Chris Heighington (suspension) who will sit out of the match following a grade one dangerous throw on Ben Hannant.

Gerard Beale and recent recruit Joseph Paulo come on to the bench with Jayson Bukuya promoted to the starting side in place of Gallen.

Andrew Fifita, Wade Graham and Jack Bird all stood out for Cronulla in their season opener, however, with Beale named on the bench, their forwards will need to shoulder much bigger minutes against the Dragons. Graham was the only forward to play the match in its entirety, Luke Lewis the next closest with 67 minutes on the field.

The Dragons are coming off a strong performance in their loss to the Melbourne Storm 18-16 at AAMI Park.

Despite conceding a number of penalties in the dying stages of the match, the Red V played quite well.

Paul McGregor has made just one change with Jack de Belin and Tyson Frizell swapping between the back row and the bench, De Belin playing the majority of St George’s Round 1 fixture against the Storm.

In 31 matches between the two clubs, the Dragons have won 18 games, just one more than the Sharks’ 17, with one match drawn.

Last time they met, the Sharks defeated the Dragons 28-8 at Remondis Stadium in Round 18, 2015.

Prior to that, the Dragons put in a 42-6 hiding of the Sharks at Jubilee Oval just six weeks earlier.

Prediction
Cronulla will get the win despite the loss of Gallen in a close match.

Sharks by eight.

What you need to know
Kickoff: 4pm (AEDT)
Venue: Shark Park
TV: Live, Nine Network
Last meeting: Sharks defeated Dragons 28-8 (Round 18, 2015)
Head-to-head: 36 played – Sharks 17, Dragons 18

Cronulla Sharks
1. Ben Barba, 2. Sosaia Feki, 3. Jack Bird, 4. Ricky Leutele, 5. Valentine Holmes, 6. James Maloney, 7. Chad Townsend, 8. Andrew Fifita, 9. Michael Ennis, 10. Sam Tagataese, 11. Luke Lewis, 12. Wade Graham, 13. Jayson Bukuya

Interchange: 14. Gerard Beale, 15. Matt Prior, 16. David Fifita, 17. Joseph Paulo

St George Illawarra Dragons
1. Kurt Mann, 2. Euan Aitken, 3. Josh Dugan, 4. Tim Lafai, 5. Jason Nightingale, 6. Gareth Widdop (c), 7. Benji Marshall, 8. Leeson Ah Mau, 9. Mitch Rein, 10. Russell Packer, 11. Tyson Frizell, 12. Will Matthews, 13. Mike Cooper

Interchange: 14. Ben Creagh (c), 15. Jack de Belin, 16. Dunamis Lui, 17. Siliva Havili, 18. Peter Mata’utia, 19. Jake Marketo

Melbourne Storm versus Gold Coast Titans
Sunday, March 13, 6:30pm (AEDT) at AAMI Park

The Gold Coast Titans will head south to AAMI Park after they smashed the Newcastle Knights in Round 1 for a meeting with last year’s preliminary finalists, the Melbourne Storm.

The big three are back together again with the Storm back in the winner’s circle following their 18-16 win over the Dragons, in what was their 12 consecutive Round 1 victory.

Fijian flyer Marika Koroibete starred for the Victorians scoring two tries and making three line breaks while Tohu Harris and Jesse Bromwich also impressed.

Billy Slater meanwhile returned for the first time since State of Origin 2 at the MCG last year, and is close to becoming the second-highest try scorer in Australian rugby league history as he now sits eight tries shy of Steve Menzies’ tally of 180, second only to the great Ken Irvine who scored a massive 212 throughout his 15-year career at both North Sydney and Manly.

He has a huge chance to draw closer to that record against the understrength Titans with the Storm hoping to get off to a flying start and win as many games on the trot as is possible.

Craig Bellamy has made no changes to his side that beat the Dragons on Monday night.

The Titans are fresh off a 30-12 win over fellow strugglers Newcastle with Greg Bird leading the way.

Bird had a hand in two tries playing 62 minutes while Ashley Taylor also made two try assists as he got his first full NRL game under his belt after his first grade debut was cut short for the Broncos last year when he sustained a hand injury.

Taylor’s defence, however, was not up to par with the rookie missing four tackles. He took a back seat to Tyrone Roberts who inspired the Titans and helped to add experience to a young side.

Neil Henry’s side face a much different task this week coming up against an experienced Storm outfit featuring the big three and a plethora of Kiwi Test forwards.

The Titans, however, will be boosted by the return of both Will Zillman (calf) and Luke Douglas (suspension) both of whom have been named on an extended six-man bench in an otherwise unchanged side.

Since the Titans were admitted into the NRL back in 2007 they have played the Storm 14 times winning five of those matches, the remaining nine being won by Melbourne.

They met just once in 2015 with the Storm winning 36-14 at AAMI Park back in Round 22.

Prediction
The Melbourne Storm will put in an emphatic victory over the Titans.

Storm by 14.

What you need to know
Kickoff: 6:30pm (AEDT)
Venue: AAMI Park
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Last meeting: Storm defeated Titans 36-14 (Round 22, 2015)
Head-to-head: 14 played – Storm 9, Titans 5

Melbourne Storm
1. Billy Slater, 2. Young Tonumaipea, 3. Will Chambers, 4. Cameron Munster, 5. Marika Koroibete, 6. Blake Green, 7. Cooper Cronk, 8. Jesse Bromwich, 9. Cameron Smith (c), 10. Jordan McLean, 11. Kevin Proctor, 12. Tohu Harris, 13. Dale Finucane

Interchange: 14. Kenneath Bromwich, 15. Tim Glasby, 16. Felise Kaufusi, 17. Christian Welch

Gold Coast Titans
1. David Mead, 2. Anthony Don, 3. Josh Hoffman, 4. Nathan Davis, 5. John Olive, 6. Tyrone Roberts, 7. Ashley Taylor, 8. David Shillington, 9. Nathan Friend (c), 10. Agnatius Paasi, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Chris McQueen, 13. Greg Bird

Interchange: 14. Eddy Pettybourne, 15. Ryan James, 16. Leivaha Pulu, 17. Daniel Mortimer, 18. Luke Douglas, 19. William Zillman (c)

Wests Tigers versus Manly Sea Eagles
Monday, March 14, 7pm (AEDT) at Leichhardt Oval

Both the Tigers and Manly shocked the rugby league world in their Round 1 performances with wins and losses respectively.

After a horror 28-6 loss to the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs at Brookvale Oval, the Sea Eagles will be given a shot at redemption.

Coach Trent Barrett has reshuffled the Silvertails’ forward pack as he looks to get his first win at NRL level.

Darcy Lussick and Blake Leary have both dropped out of the side with Brenton Lawrence coming on to the bench while Josh Starling moves into the front row. Star recruit Martin Taupau moves to second row, replacing Nathan Green who moves to the bench with Jake Trbojevic filling the Kiwis Test star’s role at lock.

Manly fans will be shocked to see Brayden Wiliame has been named in the side despite having a poor game with Halauafu Lavaka unlikely to make his NRL debut anytime soon unless Barrett makes a late change to his team.

Dylan Walker will be required to carry more for the northern beaches outfit and will be asked to get more involved in play.

He will come up against Luke Brooks who returns for the Tigers from suspension seeing Jack Littlejohn dropped.

Brooks will partner Mitchell Moses who put on a masterclass against the Warriors having a hand in two tries and propelling the joint venture toward a win.

Wests’ forwards struggled to play big minutes with Chris Lawrence the only to play out the full game although Curtis Sironen and skipper Aaron Woods both played 70 minutes each. Jack Buchanan did not make an appearance which sees him drop off the bench in favour of the returning Dene Halatau who will start at hooker pushing Kyle Lovett back to the bench.

The two sides have played each other just 22 times since 1998 with the Sea Eagles winning 14 matches, while the joint venture have managed just eight wins.

They met only once in 2015 with the Sea Eagles winning 30-20 in Round 15.

Prediction
The Sea Eagles will finally get a win on the board with a dominant display.

Sea Eagles by 12.

What you need to know
Kickoff: 7pm (AEDT)
Venue: Leichhardt Oval
TV: Live, Fox Sports
Last meeting: Sea Eagles defeated Wests Tigers 30-20 (Round 15, 2015)
Head-to-head: 22 played – Wests Tigers 8, Sea Eagles 14

Wests Tigers
1. James Tedesco, 2. David Nofoaluma, 3. Tim Simona, 4. Kevin Naiqama, 5. Jordan Rankin, 6. Mitchell Moses, 7. Luke Brooks, 8. Aaron Woods (c), 9. Dene Halatau, 10. Tim Grant, 11. Curtis Sironen, 12. Chris Lawrence, 13. Sauaso Sue

Interchange: 14. Kyle Lovett, 15. Josh Aloiai, 16. Ava Seumanufagai, 17. Manaia Cherrington, 18. Michael Chee Kam

Manly Sea Eagles
1. Tom Trbojevic, 2. Jorge Taufua, 3. Jamie Lyon (c), 4. Steve Matai, 5. Brayden Wiliame, 6. Dylan Walker, 7. Daly Cherry-Evans, 8. Josh Starling, 9. Apisai Koroisau, 10. Nate Myles, 11. Lewis Brown, 12. Martin Taupau, 13. Jake Trbojevic

Interchange: 14. Matt Parcell, 15. Nathan Green, 16. Brenton Lawrence, 17. Siosaia Vave

Roarers, who are you tipping in Round 2?