Last night’s 18-all thriller after ten minutes extra time between the Sharks and Titans begged the question of how far these two teams will go in 2016?
Only the second draw of the season ended the Sharks winning sequence at 15, but they remain unbeaten in 16 successive games, while the Titans are playing superb never-say-die rugby league.
But neither the Sharks nor the Titans will be in the big one.
» The Roar’s complete guide to the 2016 NRL Finals
That honour will be with the Storm and Cowboys, providing the incredible Johnathan Thurston’s hamstring allows him to play.
No Thurston, no Cowboys.
Here’s how I see the remaining five rounds playing out.
37 – Sharks with Raiders, Dragons, Rabbitohs, Roosters, and Storm (loss), for eight points. Total: 45 points.
36 – Storm with Rabbitohs, Raiders, Manly, Broncos, and Sharks.for ten points. Total: 46.
29 – Raiders with Sharks (loss), Storm (loss), Eels, Manly and Tigers for six points. Total: 35.
28 – Cowboys with Tigers (loss if Thurston doesn’t play), Roosters, Warriors (if Thurston plays), Bulldogs, and Titans for eight points. Total: 36.
28 – Bulldogs with Knights, Manly, Storm (loss), Broncos, and Cowboys (loss) for six points. Total: 34.
24 – Broncos with Dragons, Eels, Bulldogs (loss), Storm (loss), and Rabbitohs for six points. Total: 30.
23 – Titans with Warriors, Tigers, Knights, Panthers, and Cowboys (loss) for eight points. Total: 31.
22 – Warriors with Titans (loss), Rabbitohs, Cowboys (loss), Tigers and Eels for six points. Total: 28
22 – Panthers with Roosters, Knights, Tigers (loss), Titans (loss), and Manly for six points. Total 28
22 – Tigers with Cowboys (loss), Titans (loss), Panthers, Warriors (loss), and Raiders (loss) for two points. Total: 24
20 – Manly with Eels, Dragons, Storm (loss), Raiders (loss), and Panthers (loss) for four points. Total: 24
20 – Dragons with Broncos (loss), Sharks (loss), Roosters (loss), Eels, and Knights for four points. Total: 24.
14 – Rabbitohs with Storm (loss), Warriors (loss), Cowboys (loss), Tigers (loss), and Bulldogs (loss) for no points. Total: 14
12 – Eels with Manly (loss), Broncos (loss), Roosters (loss), Dragons (loss), and Warriors (loss) for no points. Total: 12.
12 – Roosters with Panthers (loss), Cowboys (loss), Dragons, Sharks (loss), Broncos (loss) for two points. Total: 14.
7 – Knights with Bulldogs (loss), Panthers (loss), Titans (loss), Rabbitohs (loss), and Dragons (loss) for no points. Total: 7
Finals formula
QF1 – 1 v 4
Storm
Raiders
EF1 – 5 v 8
Bulldogs
Warriors
EF2 – 6 v 7
Titans
Broncos
QF2 – 2 v 3
Sharks
Cowboys
SF1 – loser QF1 v winner EF1
Raiders
Bulldogs
SF2 – loser QF2 v winner EF2
Titans
Sharks
QF1 winner v SF2 winner
Storm
Sharks
QF2 winner v SF1 winner
Cowboys
Bulldogs
Winners in grand final
Storm
Cowboys
Premiers – Storm.
Rugby Realist
Guest
Disagree about Sharks. Sharks have been masters of the grind last few years, but have previously lacked attacking spark. Now with Barba firing and the young guns firing they are a complete team. Far from unbeatable of course, but deserve equal favouritism.
CALM CHEEN
Guest
I thought the Roosters had been unlucky in there last few games and could have quite easily come away with different results had some fairly dubious decisions gone their way. They look to be getting their at together and with a bit of luck they could get at least three of those last games.
Fish
Guest
I was at the game too, and in my opinion Morgo looked confused. I don't believe it was completely his fault, I think Green needs to take some ownership for the loss. Perhaps that is why he was trying to deflect the responsibility onto referee decisions. Something he has refused to do in the past. He used Morgan wrong and I think he knows it. He should of left Morgan do what Morgan does, and give the chief playmaking responsibilities to Thompson and Coote, that way the team is disrupted the least. He should of also given Granville a full eighty minutes, allowing for a better forward rotation. This may of allowed Scott two rotations meaning that he would be on the field for more than three quarters of the game. To be honest I thought the Cowboys could take a lot more out of that game psychologically than the Storm. The Storm have been rampaging through teams for most of the season. The Cowboys kept them scoreless for sixty five or so minutes, in a high quality game. Thursto plays and those fifth tackle options that they struggled with would of yielded points as better pressure would of been built. Thurston is at least a twelve point difference in these games. I like the Cowboys for a back to back, but unfortunately I think it will all come down to which referee each game gets. They do not generally do well under referees that allow excessive wrestling and spoiling.
Oingo Boingo
Guest
?
up in the north
Roar Rookie
That gave me a belly laugh. Funnily enough the Duges didn't exactly set the world on fire playing centre. How many games was it? - one hand
Old School
Roar Rookie
Hey King, yeh not upset at all. Just pointing at that after the last 2 years this has been an excellent year for the Raiders so far. No one expected them to have this ladder position, I saw many predictions for the wooden spoon at the start of the season. It's just a perception issue really that doesn't help when they're on Ch9 vs the Broncos 2 months ago and they looked terrible, or they have 2 golden point games against Newcastle. If it was the Sharks, Storm or Cowboys who flogged the Rabbitohs everyone would be saying they're the team to beat, but it's the Raiders and everyone says the Rabbits are rubbish!
The Barry
Roar Guru
Only if they move Kurt Mann to fullback...
joblot
Guest
thankfully you dont pick my tips week to week as you have under estimated a couple of the teams, the raiders, roosters,sea eagles are sides that can beat any of the top sides the sharks in particular look vulnerable to a team that drags them into a grind
Penrith Punter
Roar Guru
My Top 8 stands at: CRO 45 MEL 44 COW 38 RAI 37 DOG 36 GLD 31 PEN 30 BRI 28 From here: Cro 20 def. Rai 18 Dog 32 def. Bri 12 Gld 19 def. Pen 18 Mel 20 def. Cow 14 Then: Rai 34 def. Dog 12 Cow 27 def. Gld 14 Followed by: Cro 18 def. Cow 14 Mel 36 def. Rai 12 GF: Mel 26 def. Cro 6 Not very creative or different to much else but Melbourne make it so hard to win. Their experience to get them home easily in the GF. Will be a very disappointing day though.
Agent
Guest
Yep I think the Cowboys at their best are still the team to beat. I'm sure Ive seen the Storm cruise through the season like this before looking unbeatable and then they fail to lift come finals. Not saying it will happen again... The Sharks deserve to be where they are but its the Sharks and they haven't proven themselves in any big games yet.
Wishy
Guest
Knights to edge out Bunnies in the Grand Final by 1 point. Knights will be leading by 2 with 10 seconds to go and Inglis will nail a field goal. Hayne to fulfil a dream and to be the half time entertainment.
Geoff Foley
Roar Rookie
Raiders v Sharkies this week will be a cracker- it's a real shame that the Sharkies have a 5-day turnaround after a really tough Titans game, in contrast to the training session against the Bunnies. Will give the Sydney media an easy excuse when the Raiders beat them. Agreed that this would be the best GF to end the year- as long as the Raiders win of course.
Crosscoder
Roar Guru
The team that worries me as a Sharks' supporter is the Raiders.I will be sweating like a long distance runner,when they play them this Saturday.They have a big fast backline and forwards that can punch holes at will.The Storm no doubt will be there when the action heats up,but their attack is more predictable and readable ,than the Cows or Raiders. The Sharks have shown control JT in attack,and you are ,more than half way there.Trouble is controlling the jack in a box. Not bragging but I expected the Titans to run a close one against the Sharks. Under Henry's guidance,they are the most underrated side in the comp.He deserves coach of the year IMO. I would like a unique G/F, the Sharks against the Raiders.End to end unpredictable stuff,the way the game was intended .And hopefully Harold Holt turning off the infernal porch light.And turning off the moderation signal every time I post, would be nice for a change. The Broncos seem to be on the long slippery slide.
Albo
Guest
I am no Ricky fan as a coach , but he has at least coached a premiership winning team ( The Roosters) which is more than most of the coaches competing for the prize this year, and he has certainly engendered a good tight spirit in his Raiders squad which is reaping rewards so far. It remains to be seen whether he can keep it going at the pointy end of the season. But so far you couldn't really criticise his work this year.
Muzz
Guest
My money is on the Dragons.
Old School
Roar Rookie
Technically only one team can win the Grand Final ;P
Kingcowboy
Guest
Alan I'm not out to upset anyone. I just don't think he is that great of a coach. They have put together a good roster down there but to me they still haven't done that much. I look at what King Henry has done on the Coast. To me that is a great coaching job. I also see the titans being a lot more of a danger to the good sides in the finals then the Raiders are but hey I might be completely wrong and the Raiders might win the whole thing.
Old School
Roar Rookie
@Kingcowboy - honestly that argument could be used when talking about the Sharkies. What have they actually done in the past 40 years? There are 13 other teams that would gladly swap positions with the Raiders at the moment. What has Ricky done - well this is the best ladder position they've been in at this stage of the season since 2003 - that's an achievement and that's a start. If things fall apart next year then you could call it a failure, but currently they're on the right trajectory.
The Barry
Roar Guru
The anti-Stuart sentiment was out of control. It would get brought up in every article regardless of how unrelated.
steve
Guest
There are only three teams who can win the GF. Sharks, Storm and Cowboys.